Employees removed from DeKalb schools in wake of CRCT cheating scandal
- 1/27/11
DeKalb County Schools has reassigned 24 employees outside the classroom as a result of an internal investigation into 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) cheating.
Potential testing irregularities were found at nine schools, according to the school system.
The employees include principals, assistant principals and teachers. The reassignments are pending review by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission of the employees’ teaching certificates. One employee who is not currently certified by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission will also be removed from currently assigned duties.
An analysis by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement of answers being erased on CRCT tests prompted the investigation by the DeKalb school system. According to GOSA, there were an unusually high number of wrong answers that were corrected statewide, including some in DeKalb schools, the school system statement said.
The school system’s investigation included interviews, a review of the erasure audit data, an analysis comparing student performances and consideration of other data. The school system reported its finding to GOSA in August 2010.
http://www.accessnorthgeorgia.com/detail.php?n=150517
"Parole board member on trial for sexual harassment"
State parole board member Gene Walker is on trial for allegedly sexually harassing an assistant then having her transferred because he didn't like her physique.
A similar lawsuit against Walker when he was a state senator was settled out of court. This lawsuit, which seeks at least $1 million, will be decided by a Fulton County jury.
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"State paid $190,000 to settle earlier sex harassment suit"
The sexual harassment lawsuit pending against state parole board member Gene Walker isn't the first time he's been named in such a case. The Associated Press has learned that the state quietly paid $190,000 a dozen years ago to settle the first lawsuit in which Walker was accused of sexually harassing a secretary.
The payment has never been identified as such in a state budget or audit, but following inquiries by The AP, the Legislative Fiscal Office and the state auditor confirmed the money was paid through a budget category labeled "other operating funds" of the state Senate in 1993.
The earlier lawsuit was filed when Walker was a powerful state senator. The state paid to settle allegations that he and two legislative colleagues sexually harassed a secretary in the state Senate.
An even bigger payout potentially is at stake in the current lawsuit against Walker, which was filed by a former parole board secretary. Plaintiff's lawyers have told the state's risk managers they believe their claim is worth $1 million to $3 million in damages.
Walker, who helps decide when murderers, sex offenders, and other felons are released from prison, declined a request for an interview. He referred questions through a parole board spokeswoman to his state-paid attorney, Bruce Edenfield.