James Berry, Former Principal, Assistant Principal, Doretha Alexander, Arrested In Cheating Investigation in Atlanta

It is really a disturbing turn of events to learn that former Atherton Elementary School principal James Berry and his assistant principal Doretha Alexander have been arrested in connection with an investigation into whether student test scores were altered to improve school performance. They have been accused of the very thing you would have hoped they would try to instill in the students and that is not to cheat, no matter what. This "dynamic duo" face charges of altering public documents. The arrests come on the heels of an audit last week that found a high number of eraser marks on tests from four Georgia schools, including Atherton. State officials have said the higher scores helped the schools meet federal standards. One has to wonder how many more times they committed these crimes and how many other school principals and their cohorts are guilty of the same thing.

Berry resigned last week, while Alexander was reassigned by district officials. These two will not work again in the field of education and rightly so. What I find equally puzzling is the relative ease with which these two seemed to have carried out this scheme. Shouldn't the system be a little bit more tamper proof?

The Governor's Office of Student Achievements preliminary audit results revealed that someone deliberately changed students' answers on the 5th grade CRCT math re-test. ast week, DeKalb County school superintendent, Dr. Crawford Lewis, said, “The evidence presented was both compelling and troubling to me as superintendent of the DeKalb County School System. I assure you I am moving with great speed to address this matter internally.”

The state said the scores improved significantly by the changes. At Atherton, the state found on average, answers were altered 21 times per student, the majority of the changes making them correct. Other metro Atlanta schools being investigated are Deerwood Academy in Atlanta, and Parklane Elementary in Fulton County. Source: WSBTV

So much for teaching your students the value of hard work and honesty. We all know that besides the loss of their positions, the sentences won't be severe, but the loss of one's integrity will undoubtedly be a costly one for these two idiots.