It’s
been several weeks now since the sentencing phases of the cheating
trials ended in Atlanta and my reaction is just as intense now as it
was then.
There’s no defense for cheating and I’m not here to mount a defense for
those black teachers caught up in the scandal to raise test scores in
Atlanta public schools. Seeing African American teachers being led out
of a courtroom in handcuffs is still unsettling for me.
I know the trials and tribulations of teachers and administrators
struggling to bring a positive educational experience in the chaos and
oppressive conditions that have been created by the State-imposed
policies and dictates.
In my past writings, I have not spared anyone in the public education
system but there is a thing called proportionality—those most
responsible for damage should get the harshest sentence.
While there’s enough blame to go around, I’m still processing the
Atlanta scandal. Black teachers were charged under the racketeering law
and getting sentences that exceed some murder sentences! The RICO Act
was intended for use on organized crime, like the Mafia. Yet, it was
used on black teachers—most with no criminal records.
Was it about a power play by the white Republican governor who ordered
the investigation into the cheating situation after an investigative
reporter broke the story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution? Has
he been just as quick to demand investigations into other corruption
cesspools in his state?
Was it about vengeance by the white judge whose severe sentencing of
the black teachers even took the prosecution aback? He had already
threatened those who didn’t take a plea would face unsparing justice in
his courtroom.
This is not the first revelation of cheating occurring in school
districts as administrators struggle to meet irrational quotas with
little support. President Bush’s “Leave No Child Behind” mandate was a
tragic joke because many kids got left behind—most of them were black
and brown and poor.
What happens to cheaters depends on who the cheater is and who they cheated.
In St. Louis white firefighters stole the standardized tests used to
determine promotions. When it was discovered that whites were cheating
on the tests to gain advantage over the black firefighters, no one was
criminally charged. No one even lost their job.
I don’t remember anyone going to jail over the Veterans Administration
scandal where intake data and other records were deliberately
misreported to project higher numbers of veterans being served. A VA
audit showed the practice was widespread; about 70 percent of the 731
VA facilities around the country were falsely manipulating the books
under extreme pressure from superiors. At the Phoenix VA (and I’m sure
other facilities) up to 40 vets died waiting for treatment. Dead vets
but no criminal charges filed here either.
And I know damn well all of the Wall Street thugs who brought the U.S.
economy to its knees never served a day in prison. The country is still
recovering from the devastating and far-reaching effects of their
greedy actions.
What happens to cheaters depends on who the cheater is and who they cheated.
Our justice system boils down to who is going to take the fall. It has
nothing to do with who’s responsible or the need to rectify a
situation. It’s a cowardly system--preferring to take down the most
vulnerable, the unorganized and the least resourced. The bullies with
power and wealth continue their dastardly deeds regardless of the scope
of their crimes.
I’m clear that cheating on standardized tests only hurts the students
in public education and that it compromises their futures—our
future--on so many levels. I’m angry that a school system that
incentivizes harm to children is not on trial. (Teachers received
monetary bonuses for increases in their students’ test scores.)
I’m also painfully clear that indicting 35 teachers for cheating has
done nothing to change the dysfunctional Atlanta educational system. To
perpetrate a myth that getting rid of these teachers has sanitized the
system once and for all is perhaps the real crime.
