Schools

Buckhead Lawmaker: APS Has Lost its Way

Reed also issues statement on today's report

Following Tuesday's release of a state investigation identifying widespread test score cheating throughout the Atlanta public school system, Buckhead state Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) said the school system has "lost its way.

“The APS CRCT investigation revealed a school system that has fundamentally lost its way by emphasizing image over education," Lindsey said in a statement. "Thousands of Atlanta’s school children were impacted and hurt. This report places enormous challenges before our new interim school superintendent and our school board leadership.

“It will be incumbent upon all of us in Atlanta who are concerned with public education to provide them with the assistance and the tools they need to restore the central focus on educating our children by regaining the public’s trust and truly creating a great public school system.”

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The AJC is reporting that Gov. Nathan Deal held a press conference today at the state capitol. Deal said the report names 178 educators, including 38 principals, as participants in cheating. More than 80 confessed. The investigators said they confirmed cheating in 44 of 56 Atlanta schools they examined.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said that Tuesday “is a dark day for the Atlanta Public School system. The state of Georgia’s investigation into allegations of widespread cheating on the CRCT test confirms our worst fears.  There is no doubt that systemic cheating occurred on a widespread basis in the school system.

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"Further, there is no question that a complete failure of leadership in the Atlanta Public School system hurt thousands of children who were promoted to the next grade without meeting basic academic standards.

"I am confident that Interim Superintendent Errol Davis, former Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, and Board of Education Chairwoman Brenda Muhammad and Vice-Chairman Reuben McDaniel will take decisive action and lead the system in a manner that resolves the problems uncovered in the investigation and work to ensure that this never happens again.

"The Atlanta Public School system can and will recover from this painful chapter in its history.  The system has the support of teachers and educators who are principled and committed to serving the city’s students. The system has the support of thousands of parents who are deeply invested in what happens in the classroom and the academic achievement of their children. 

"And Superintendent Davis, Chairwoman Muhammad and Vice-Chairman McDaniel have my full support and that of the entire City of Atlanta as they begin to move the school district forward.”


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