Oh Atlanta

I have just started following the CRTC cheating scandal in Atlanta. This has not been the finest hour for the leaders of the black clergy in Atlanta who have chosen to frame blacks as victims and the investigation of the cheating scandal as racist.

"The bigger option is dealing with racism, and how it affects the public education system," said Concerned Black Clergy President the Rev. Richard Cobble on Monday. "It's a costly witch hunt."


"We expect our prosecutors to go after criminals and not our educators," said Dr. Richard Cobble, President of the Concerned Black Clergy. He and more than 30 others blasted the investigation as "disturbing, reprehensible and misguided." Pressed on how the CRCT investigation was racist, Cobble told CBS Atlanta, "Cheating on tests is one of the means in which the system designed to keep us unfocused, to keep us distracted and keep us at each other throats."


Members of the Concerned Black Clergy also said they plan to meet with the Fulton County District Attorney and ask him not to impose jail time on educators found guilty of cheating on standardized tests. Black ministers in Atlanta denounce what they say is a “witch hunt” on educators who — however misguided — were just trying to help children. 

“Now we want to put teachers in jail, which is absurd,” said the Rev. Timothy McDonald, a leader of the group, the Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta.

They insist that no one, especially teachers, should face any criminal charges if found guilty of changing students' test sheet answers. "I see no way for us as a community to call ourselves progressive and innovative if we even talk about jailing teachers," said Rev. Joseph Roberts.

The ministers say they don't condone cheating by anyone, but fear fallout from the investigation could cripple Atlanta's Public School system and make it even more difficult to replace outgoing Superintendent Beverly Hall.

They believe teachers have become scapegoats in the probe and, if guilty, should only face job action such as suspension. "District Attorney Paul Howard has been misguided and has joined the forces of those who dare to destroy public education," claimed Rev. Cobble.

District Attorney Howard said he hopes he doesn't have to charge anyone with a crime. But when pressed, he still reserved that option, if needed. "We will make some determination, as in every case, as to whether or not any other criminal actions are necessary," Howard said.

When asked if criminal charges are still a possibility, he said, "Always a possibility."

Black clergy members put most of the blame for the scandal on the No Child Left Behind Act and what they feel is an overemphasis on testing.    

Members of the Concerned Black Clergy think a more appropriate punishment would be to reprimand teachers found guilty of cheating or force them to take furlough days.

"There are other avenues besides threatening teachers with jail time. And we don't think any teacher should go to jail for changing any erasures on a test," said Rev. McDonald. 'Suspension with pay, suspension without pay, there are other alternatives than putting folks in jail."

"We admit some cheating went on; ain't nobody up here saying ain't been no cheating, but we got to find a resolution that moves us forward and not backwards," said  Rev. Mcdonald. "These teachers, even those who cheated, let's face it, they were trying to help."

To give you the story in a nutshell, in february state officials in Georgia noticed an abnormal amount of erasures on student answer sheets for the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, which tests first- through eighth-graders on reading, math and language arts. In response, the state ordered an inquiry into 58 of Atlanta's 84 elementary and middle schools. Many Atlanta Public Schools employees have now confessed to changing students’ test papers, providing answers to students or watching others manipulate tests. Federal criminal charges may now be filed. The Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall has resigned and has been implicated for being less than truthful during the investigation. There was also apparently a huge effort on the part of administrators to suppress the scandal.

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U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. spoke up this week about his infidelity with a female acquaintance. "Every one of us has erred in their personal lives and while I don't claim to be a perfect servant, I'm a public servant," Jackson told the AP. "Often times we carry with us the burdens of our personal shortcomings even as we struggle to articulate and clarify a message that helps other people. That what I dedicated my life to. Everybody's falling short of the glory of God.""

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The african american community is not well served by leaders who justify cheating. On tests or on their wives. Crying racism when being caught red handed altering test scores will also not help the community in the long run. And the students are certainly not being served by allowing them to pass forward while failing to meet the most minimum requirements and being "helped" by such teachers. 

I don't blame the teachers entirely. I blame the parents who don't stress the importance of education to their children and do their part to ensure their children's education at home. And Black clergymen who speak ghetto ebonics, regularly say ain't and can't complete a proper sentence. The black community will get ahead when they face these problems head on and stop laying them off on imaginary racism. They are not "helping"their children by insisting that they be held to a lesser standard than that adopted by any other american community. In fact tragically it sends the opposite message to the kids, that the children can not measure up on an equal playing field.


But Dr. Cobble is coming out of left field. The "man" didn't create a vast conspiracy that would tempt the brothers and sisters to cheat or to "keep us at each other throats." You guys figured this one out yourselves.