Teacher's Group: No Cheating in DeKalb County

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - The president of a DeKalb teacher’s organization says no cheating went on in his county. A total of 29 educators were removed from classrooms on Thursday following cheating allegations on the CRCT.

The shakeup has upset many people, and the president of a teacher’s organization says the county will be exaunerated.

A retired principal is now at the helm at Glen Haven Elementary, where the former principal was one of those removed from nine schools district-wide in connection to the investigation into the 2009 CRCT irregularities.

David Schutten, the president of the Organization of DeKalb Educators (ODE), says allegations of possible cheating in the county are being taken very hard.

”Teachers are emotional, Schutten told Georgia Newsday. ”I can tell that teachers have been crying this moing.

The county conducted an investigation into the unusually high number of wrong answers tued to right on the 2009 CRCT. That investigation came after the goveor’s office of student achievement flagged the system.

The county referred 29 current employees to the Department of Professional Standards Commission and even had a conference call with the DeKalb County district attoey over the matter.

Schutten says he is convinced there was no cheating, and that any erasures were just due to normal student changes. He told Georgia Newsday he is okay with the temporary removal of teachers and principals from schools while the investigation is underway.

Schutten also says that unlike other school districts, DeKalb County cooperated fully from the beginning with investigators. He says any chance that the investigation will tu criminal or go to the district attoey’s office is out of the question.