"Tight" security for APS CRCT cheating--er, testing.

In the latest (summer 2010) issue of that must-read periodical "The Atlanta Educator" (you might not have received a copy, or used yours to line a bird cage, so I'll clue you in here), Bev Hall writes one slender paragraph addressing the massive, catastrophic CRCT cheating at APS (which, of course, she's in complete denial about):

"Let me also take time to note that the district anxiously awaits results of an investigation concerning excessive erasures on 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) answer sheets. Headed up by a blue-ribbon panel of business and community leaders, the investigation is expected to be complete by mid- June. Initial reports have found that the district has “tight” testing security and is using many exemplary practices. To strengthen our processes, the panel made a number of recommendations that we implemented for the 2010 CRCT, which our students took in April."

Yup, that's it. That's all she has to say about it.

What "initial reports" is she talking about?

The only official investigation of the Atlanta Public Schools CRCT scandal is being conducted by the "Blue Ribbon Panel" (wow, what PR genius came up with THAT name?) and will be released Monday, Aug. 2, five months after it began and more than two and a half months later than it was due.

Cite your sources, Bev, then explain how your idea of "tight security" squares with the Panel's findings on Monday, when it becomes clear that the Atlanta Public Schools, under your direct supervision, have indeed set a new standard for cheating on standardized tests; a disgrace unequaled by any school district in U.S. history.

You can read the whole issue of "The Atlanta Educator" online, but I won't link to it here, on principle. Any publication that would print such garbage doesn't deserve a link.

Can I use this school-issued credit card to buy me some common sense?

Here's the text of an email I received today from "The Friends of Courtney English," who is our Seat 7 representative on the Atlanta Public Schools Board.

Dear Atlanta Community Member,

As an elected member of the Atlanta Board of Education, I've made a mistake and I hope you will accept my apology.

I did not fully understand the terms of use of a credit card issued to me by the Atlanta Public Schools. I misinterpreted a document that accompanied the credit card when it was issued to me. I mistakenly thought I could use the credit card for personal use as long as I immediately reimbursed the district for any charges incurred.

This is not the policy. I never should have made any personal purchases, period.

I am responsible for $855.83 of disallowed charges made to the credit card between May 29 and June 30, 2010. These charges included an airline ticket, food, gratuities, hotel charges, and other sundries. On July 14, 2010, I reimbursed the district in full for all disallowed charges.

I apologize for this mistake. I take seriously my responsibilities as an elected school board member. I will never make this mistake again.

Sincerely,

Courtney English

Board of Education Seat 7

friendsofCourtneyEnglish@gmail.com
.

And here's what I wrote back to him (corrected from earlier version, where I assumed Courtney was a "her"--rl):

Dear Courtney:

It takes character to admit you made a mistake. Now I hope you will insist on the people you supervise showing the same character.

It is a mistake to try to claim that the worst cheating scandal in the history of standardized testing was the result of some "poor disadvantaged children" trying hard to "correct their own mistakes," as YOUR Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Keith Browery put it when the cheating scandal broke.

To try to actually put this scandal on the backs on the children who were victimized--to, in essence, try to use those children as a shield to deflect criticism from the adults who perpetrated this fraud---now THAT is a mistake that makes yours seem trivial by comparison.

To take credit for being one of the top reformers in the country while in fact your success is largely based on fraudulent test scores (as Bev Hall has done, and is doing)--now THAT is a mistake. Yours is small potatoes compared to that.

When the cheating results are announced on Monday (with a healthy dollop of sugar-coating from the "Blue Ribbon" whatever-it-is, I'm sure), many of us will expect you, our elected leader, to correct some OTHER major mistakes that have been going on lately--like your unwillingness to insist on a permanent director for the Program for Exceptional Children for nearly THREE YEARS now.

Admitting you made a mistake because you're afraid some AJC reporter will find out about it using the Open Records Act is a small first step. (Someone gives you an Atlanta Public Schools credit card and you actually think it would be appropriate to use it for any personal purchases? Give me a break).

If you want forgiveness, show some real courage on Monday.

Let me just add this: does Courtney English not have a credit card of his own? How did it even enter his sphere of consciousness to use a taxpayer-funded credit card --provided for use to him as an elected official -- for personal use?

I think what really happened here is that Courtney English found out that someone from the AJC was sniffing around using the Open Records Act, and he (English) decided to cop a plea before the hammer fell.

How many other APS employees (including Board members) are wondering right now if their own credit card charges are going to be scrutinized now? (Hopefully, the answer is: all of them).

It's only a matter of time until....

Bev Hall and her cronies hear this.

Over/Under: Sept. 1, 2010. I'm feeling optimistic, so I'm going with before (under).

Leveraging the Chaos

In the next few weeks, there will be a tremendous amount of pressure on Bev Hall to step down. The CRCT cheating investigation report is just one reason. There's also the e-Rate scandal, and the news today that Atlanta leads the Metro (by a wide margin) in the percentage of elementary students who fail basic math. The PEC audit, which will also be released in the next couple of weeks, will be very damaging to Hall if it is an honest accounting of that disastrously dysfunctional program.

If you've been reading the AJC (particularly the Get Schooled blog) you see that anger over Hall's performance is rising, and it is now almost impossible to find anyone standing in support of her. This is not the sole gauge one would use to determine if she can survive these scandals, of course, but it is a gauge.

During the hunt for a new superintendent, I feel SPARK parents will have an opportunity to lobby--and obtain--some promises worth obtaining.

1. The Assistant Principal position at SPARK must be guaranteed and fully funded and parents must have the opportunity to participate in--and APPROVE THE HIRING OF--the permanent assistant principal.

This must not be like the principal-hiring process under Bev Hall, in which parents were invited to (under cloak of secrecy) give their opinions, but did not have any sway over the decision itself, which was entirely Bev Hall's to make.

SPARK parents must be allowed to veto any candidate they do not find suitable. The reason we need to ask for this, and the reason we should get it, are as follows:

We didn't get a say in the hiring of Yolonda Brown, who is an energetic principal, and who seems to be generally well-liked, but who was hired on the basis of test score improvements at her prior posting which are now going to be shown to have been fraudulent.

This does not mean Ms. Brown is a fraud. But it does mean that we hired someone who, by no fault of her own (I'm assuming), delivered a resume that was inaccurate.

So we really don't know what we have with Ms. Brown. Is she really a gifted principal, or just a Bev Hall loyalist who benefitted from the CRCT cheating that went on under her watch (if not with her participation)?

We deserve to be able to give her the support of a very capable fully vetted assistant principal and we should demand this. Not suggest it, not push for it, but absolutely demand it. Our leverage here would be to call for the ouster of Ms. Brown, and that's something the Hall administration (or its successor) would very much want to avoid.

2. The administration of SPARK and the key liaisons between SPARK personnel and the APS central office should be summoned to a meeting at which we, the parents, lay down some new rules of the road. SPARK parents should use this opportunity to make it clear that they (the parents) are going to be heavily involved in the day-to-day management of our community public school and that all APS employees had better get used to that way of doing business. The PTO should talk to parent members about what forms this new involvement would take, but it seems clear to me that parent oversight of school processes must be greatly ramped up. School employees resist this with all their might, but we must not be pushed back.

3. The current spokesman for the Atlanta Public Schools, Keith Bromery, must resign or be fired. He has been outrageously disingenuous with the parent/stakeholders of the Atlanta Public Schools. This cannot be tolerated. We must insist to the Board that it hire a spokesperson for the district who will accurately convey the truth, as unpleasant as it may sometimes be, to parents with children in the district. That is the spokesperson's responsibility--to tell the truth. Not to insist that the biggest cheating scandal in the history of standardized testing was due to a few disadvantaged kids who were just trying to correct their own answers "as they'd been instructed to do."

I had a conversation with Keith in late 2009 in which I called him out for his shameless playing of the race card, and I will be happy to talk to the parents about what I see as his dereliction of duty. As a journalist, I am offended by his lack of honesty in dealing with the press, but as a parent, I'm outraged at his willingness to lie to parents.

4. We need to tell our Board that we want the Superintendent selection process to be much more transparent and open to parental input than it has ever been before, and actually follow through by attending Board meetings and confronting our elected Board reps when necessary.