Big Beverly Hall of Georgia Indicted in Wide-Stretching Cheating Scandal

Cheating Schools: Big Beverly Hall of Georgia Indicted in Wide-Stretching Cheating Scandal

At 5'4", and over 180lbs., and with a waistline that matches her ambitions, it seems that former Atlanta schools chief Beverly Hall likes big things. According to Atlanta-area students, Beverly Hall likes to eat big burgers, big cakes, and big sweets. Beverly Hall was named "National Superintendent of the Year" in 2009 and had previously headed troubled school districts in New York and Newark.

It is clear that Beverly Hall is big on education, has always had big goals. Beverly Hall has demanded the same or similar big goals for the Atlanta teachers, and educators under her administration. Her impressive accomplishments, and her ambition to succeed are quite admirable. Her appetite for big things is equally impressive.

For example, Atlanta Educator Beverly Hall is credited with rescuing the struggling Atlanta school system and helping it meet testing standards set by the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law. Big Bev had asserted that she found the secret to success, and the secret to teaching the under-class. The newly elevated test-score improvements were evidence of her sweet recipe of academic success. What has eluded educators, teachers, and adminstrators for over 100 years, in America's urban areas, and school systems, Big Beverly Hall claimed to have finally found the answers.

The Hiring of Big Beverly Hall for the Atlanta Superintendent position

Not long after she became Atlanta’s superintendent in 1999, Beverly Hall established increasingly tough performance targets for every Atlanta school that would become progressively more difficult to hit. Like her fondness for Big Macs, the mantra of Beveral Hall was: “No exceptions and no excuses.” Atlanta educators had a difficult task. How to instruct, motivate, and maintain discipline in a school system with youth who may themselves feel disinterested in the process? Do African-American youth desire to learn? Of course! Are African-American youth capable of high aptitude? Most definitely! Youth are rarely the problem.

What is typcally the problem are the quality of the educators. The Clark County School District of Nevada is an example of a failed school district where only a tiny percentage of the students are African-American, but over 80% of the educators and administrative staff are Caucasion. So, race is not the barometer for academic aptitude success, and the Georgia students are most likely no different than other students. It is lazy, under-educated teachers, and educators, who want to lounge around Starbucks during their breaks, and take the easy path to success.

Beverly Hall cut pies and cut corners

Not only was Beverly Hall willing to cut pies, she was also willing to cut corners according to a criminal indicted released in March 2013. Big Bev (Beverly Hall), and her many in her administration, were indicted in the spring on charges of racketeering and corruption. At least 35 Atlanta Public Schools educators and administrators were indicted. By the time the indictment reached her, Beverly Hall had already "retired" because she most likely knew that her recipe for success was instead a phony diet with 1000 calories, 0 proteins, 1 pound of sugar, and 1200 mg of sodium. Prosecutors allege that the alleged cheating scandal may have begun as far back as 2001 when the standardized test-scores began to turn around.

The state of Georgia is not the state of Nevada, where cheating is routine, and local Nevada prosecutors and police are just as corrupt as school administrators; ref: *A June 2006 article by the Los Angeles Times entitled "Juice vs. Justice" on actual corruption in the Nevada judiciary, and how most Nevada judges/prosecutors are corrupt. Local Georgia media report that Georgia law enforcement officials finally launched an investigation in 2010 of potential cheating in Atlanta. As part of that probe, the state enlisted at least one third-grade Georgia teacher to wear a wire to record her fellow teachers.

The state of Georgia approved and conducted a public integrity investigation of Beverly Hall, the Georgia school superintendent, and determined that Big Beverly Hall ignored serious allegations of cheating beginning in 2005. There are also allegations that Big Beverly Hall "ruled by fear" and did not hesitate to throw her weight on the table to intimidate teachers and educators.

When Big Beverly Hall was not throwing her weight around, ior munching on Krispy-Creme donuts her staff broght to her, prosecutors claim that Big Beverly Hall was generating fat bonuses to her staff members at schools with high test scores. For example, The New York Times has reported that Big Beverly Hall made $581,860.82 in bonuses between 1999 and 2009. It is unclear of the expense tally of that income, and how much went to food,clothes, bonuses, living expenses, etc.

*Atlanta-Style Corruption Not Prosecuted in Clark County School District

Although corruption of the type alleged against Beverly Hall and Atlanta eductors is not typically prosecuted by local Nevada prosecutors, the public needs to understand why and how a school district that is ranked near the very bottom, and how is it possible to justify the obscene salaries that Nevada educators receive depite all indications that the Clark County School District, and its teachers, are doing a lousy job? Quitter Dwight Jones, for example, was hired by suspicious Clark County School District personnel as a school superintendent and was quickly provided an outrageous compensation package worth $358,000, according to a local media source in October 2010 when he was hired. His benefits included $15,000 for moving expenses; $4,000 a year for professional development; $700 a month car allowance; 31 days of vacation; a $150,000 life insurance policy, and $660 a month to defray expenses for being visible in the schools. Not one penny over the minimum wage was justifed.

In March 2013, coincidentally, Dwight Jones abruptly left within weeks after the Beverly Hall indictment. Both Hall and Dwight Jones made promises and/or insinutations that were not totally accurate and both recieved undeserved amounts of compensation. Both Beveraly Hall and Dwight Jones have expanded waistlines, and both alluded to the need to improve test scores when hired.

*More Georgia Scholarships Due to Beverly Hall Indictment

Instead of being a model of scholarship excellence, Georgia has been described by prosecutors as a model for cheating. The Georgia scandal illustrates the need for transparent scholarship sponsors like National Academy of American Scholars that do not claim memberships in organizations like the National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA), standardized testing organizations, National Association of Student Financial-Aid Administrators (NASFAA), or National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), or the deceptively named Better Business Bureau (BBB). If a school superintendent is willing to cheat, and is able to recruit hundreds of teachers in the process, then why should one believe the mission statements of third-party organizations that charge membership fees?

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