Politics & Government

APS Extends Erroll Davis' Contract, Suspends Superintendent Search

First of series of personnel changes "will be put in place Monday," according to local news reports.

The Atlanta School Board voted Thursday to give interim Superintendent Erroll B. Davis, Jr., a one-year contract so that he can make changes in the wake of the high-profile schools cheating scandal that has netted Atlanta national news attention. The board decision effectively suspends the search for a permanent superintendent to replace Beverly Hall.

According to an Atlanta Public Schools' news release Thursday, the board agreed to extend Davis’ employment contract to one year, following his presentation to them of an initial action plan to address the issues raised in the state CRCT investigation report.

Davis, who became interim superintendent last Friday, is now scheduled to serve in the position until June 30, 2012. The action followed a three-hour executive session to discuss personnel issues and potential litigation.

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During an earlier public session Thursday, Davis presented his initial action plan in response to Tuesday’s release of the state CRCT investigation report. 

The CRCT report uncovered cheating in 78.6 percent of the Atlanta city schools that were examined, according to a story WSB-TV Thursday. Investigators found that 178 teachers and principals were involved in cheating on CRCT scores at 44 schools. According to the 800-page report, the WSB story reported, teachers pointed correct answers to students during testing and changed test answers at weekend gatherings.

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Davis' plan includes:

  • Addressing personnel issues identified in the report
  • Moving the district’s Office of Internal Resolution (OIR) from Human Resources to Internal Audits, which reports directly to the Board
  • Setting ‘trigger points’ that will result in automatic investigations of schools whose test scores increase by a larger than normal percentage
  • Initiating climate surveys to periodically assess the culture at district schools and offices
  • Adding customer service and student support key measures to the district’s “Balanced Scorecard”, which is used to evaluate the performance of departments and employees on an annual basis
  • Establishing annual mandatory ethics training for all employees
  • Training of test coordinators by an external group
  • Developing an academic remediation plan for students impacted by testing improprieties.

According to a story in Thursday's AJC, the vote came after Davis laid out personnel plans for how to handle the cheating scandal that has implicated 178 district employees. Those plans were not made public, although the first of them will be put in place Monday.

"The stability, we definitely need," board Chairwoman Brenda Muhammad said of Davis, whose contract will end June 30, 2012. Other details, including his pay, were not immediately known, according to the AJC story.

Davis, who retired last week as chancellor of the University System of Georgia, repeated Thursday that he does not want the job permanently.


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