Focus on Ethics a Priority, Says Atlanta Schools Chief

“I believe all failures are leadership failures and I see this as a massive failure of leadership at every level.”

Davis says APS has been focusing on making sure educators fully understand the district’s ethics policy.

All teachers must take an ethics certification course and every school has an ethics advocate.

As for the students, Davis says it was a challenge to determine which ones were directly affected by the cheating so, the district decided to offer help to all.

“We felt it easier to identify all students who were not performing at grade level,” says Davis.

The district offered before school, in-school and after school remedial tutoring.

With the national spotlight once again on the Atlanta Public Schools, Erroll Davis says he feels the pressure to make a scandal of this nature never happens again.

Under his leadership Davis says at best, he wants to minimize the probability.

“If we can get our laws and policies embedded in our systems then that will go a long way towards assuring some of these things don’t happen again.”

Meanwhile, Davis says the district is moving forward by implementing initiatives in its strategic plan.

That includes staying within in the budget, rolling out the common core curriculum and improving safety measures in all schools.