Atlanta educators indicted in cheating scandal start surrendering to police

GlobalPost

One third of the former Atlanta principals, teachers and test administrators who were indicted in a massive cheating scandal surrendered themselves to police on Tuesday.

CNN reports that 11 of the 35 educators facing charges that they conspired to help students cheat on federally mandated standardized tests had turned themselves in at the Fulton County Jail by 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard gave a deadline of Tuesday for the 35 indicted educators to surrender.

On Friday, a Fulton County grand jury indicted the educators on charges that they conspired to help students cheat on standardized tests for their own financial gain from at least 2005 to 2010.

J. Tom Morgan, an attorney for former Atlanta public schools superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall, told CNN that she would turn herself in sometime before midnight.

Dr. Hall, who retired in 2011, is facing up to 45 years in prison on charges of racketeering, theft, influencing witnesses, conspiracy and making false statements.

Her bond was reduced to $200,000, according to the Fulton County Sheriff's office.

More from GlobalPost: 35 Atlanta educators indicted in massive cheating scandal

One of educators facing charges, Tameka Goodson, a former school improvement specialist at Kennedy Middle School, was escorted to jail by her attorney Raymond Lail at 12:30am on Tuesday.

"She's been anxious about this, of course, since she's heard about this. (She's) very distraught over it," Lail told CBS Atlanta. "It's the closest she's ever been to a jail in her life."

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