Two Atlanta Educators Agree to Negotiated Plea Deals

WABE’s Rose Scott and Michelle report on the plea deals.

Rose Scott reports on Christopher Waller's plea.

Parks Middle School located in southwest Atlanta had been a low-performing school.

Nearly 90 percent of its students were on the free lunch program and many were living at or below the poverty line.

So education was crucial, but that didn’t matter says Christopher Waller.

Friday, the former principal admitted to his role in cheating.

“I orchestrated cheating by several teachers and fostered a culture of cheating that continued even after I was not at the school. As the factual statement read by the prosecutor shows, my role was continuous for several years.  And I accept responsibility for this conduct which was unethical, immoral, dishonest and criminal.”

He told the court there was no excuse and  he was no longer blaming others.

Under then superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall, Waller was praised for turning around Parks Middle School.

That was based on targets set by Dr. Hall.

Targets that were measured by test scores.

But Waller told the court, those scores were fraudulent.

“No matter how hard the teachers worked and no matter how much we actually improved the school, there was no way that we could keep up with targets.  The targets were unattainable, at least by legitimate means. So we cheated to attain the targets.”

Waller also admitted his role in trying to cover up the cheating once an investigation began.

And for that he pled guilty a felony charge of making false statements.

As part of his plea, Waller agrees to pay back $50,000 for fines and restitution.

He’ll be on probation for five years and must perform 1,000 hours of community service.

Christopher Waller will now testify for the state that his role was directly tied to pressure from other defendants.

That includes his regional director Michael Pitts and Dr. Beverly Hall.

Michell Eloy reports on Sandra Ward's plea.

Sandra Ward, who worked under Waller and served as the school’s testing coordinator, also admitted to facilitating cheating at Parks Middle School between 2006 and 2009.

She said she helped teachers obtain the answer sheets to standardized tests so the students’ answers could be erased and changed, and was able to do so under the guise of needing to erase stray marks.

“I sincerely regret my involvement in this incident,” Ward said. “I also regret the fact that the leadership at APS was focused more on improving test scores than helping the students learn.”

Ward said some Parks staff changed answers because of pressure from Hall, Pitts and other APS top administrators that trickled down to Waller, who also entered a plea deal Friday. She said she believes Pitts wanted teachers to learn how to cheat from other educators.

“There was no way for these students to achieve the test scores that were required by the administration at APS,” Ward said.

Ward pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction for withholding information from investigators.  She agreed to one year probation, to pay back $5,000 in bonuses and perform 250 hours of community service. 

Ward had initially said she would not take a plea offer and denied involvement in covering up cheating.

Ward’s attorney Page Pate said mounting evidence from earlier pleas changed her mind.

“When you have other individuals at Parks who apparently have a very clear memory of certain incidents that put her in a position where she was aware – and if not aware certainly should have been aware that cheating was going on – of course that changes your analysis of the case,” Pate said.

During the trial, district attorney Clint Rucker said Ward had “evolved” in her cooperation during the investigation.

As part of the plea, Ward will now have to testify on behalf of the state in future APS trials.