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Ga. Educators Accused Of Cheating

4 Educators Face Punishment After Competency Exam Cheating Evidence Surfaces

POSTED: Monday, November 16, 2009
UPDATED: 6:40 pm EST November 16, 2009

Evidence of cheating on the Georgia competency exams landed four Glynn County educators facing punishment, accused of cheating to make their school's grade higher.

State officials said a former principal and two teachers at Burroughs Molette Elementary School in Brunswick, Ga., along with former Glynn County superintendent Michael Bull corrected the answers of some fifth graders on a standardized test to increase the school and county's grade to meet federal standards.

"You have to have an active teaching certificate to be able to teach, and their certificate as of right now is under the recommendation to be suspended," said Jim Wiedhaas, of the Glynn County School Board.

This marks the second time Bull has been disciplined this year. He was fired by the school board in February for allegedly using a school system Blackberry to surf the Internet for pornography.

The school's former principal had already retired, and the two unnamed teachers have been reassigned.

Gary Walker, an official with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which voted to suspend the teaching certificates, said there is no excuse for what happened.

"High-stakes testing creates more activities like this," Walker said.

Some parents of students at the school said they were aware of the scandal, but others said they didn't know about it.

"That's a little embarrassing for our community," parent Remata Grant said. "They should teach the child instead of cheat for the child."

"I'm appalled," parent Anastasia Tucker. "I think that's ridiculous because the point of kids coming to school is for them academically to learn. And for them, they're just passing the kids on, and what are the kids benefiting from in the long run?"

The teachers have 30 days to appeal the suspension of their teaching certificates.
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