Atlanta Educator Sentenced Up to Seven Years In Prison (Juliana Cortez Pd.3)

On April 1st Atlanta educators stood next to each other, one by one, while members of the court were deciding on how many years these people should be sentenced to. The sentence was anywhere from one to seven years for their conviction on racketeering chargers on one of the largest scandals of the nation. During the five-month trial Baxter, the man appointed, had planned on sending the educators to prison. However, when the verdicts were reached, the educators were sent directly to prison with no time to waste. On Monday Baxter changed his mind, once more, and decided that it would be fair to allow a deal to be offered to the educators that would help them avoid the possible 20 year sentence that racketeering carries behind it. Baxter ended up giving three of the eleven educators 20-year sentences, with seven years to be served in prison and the other 13 years on probation.Five educators received a five-year sentences, with two ordered to serve two years in prison. While Baxter continued to assign the punishments, two of educators apologized in court and received lighter punishments. One of the two educators must serve six months of weekends in jail and five years of probation. The other avoided jail and was sentenced to five years probation, with one year of an evening home curfew. State investigators discovered that cheating had not been under control throughout the Atlanta school district, although they were prompting schools nationwide to enact measures guarding against cheating. The last guilty educator is due to be sentenced in August and those sentenced on Tuesday were expected to be released pending appeal. Although cheating had been reported in 40 states and Washington, D.C., it is uncommon for educators to serve time. 

 http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/14/us/georgia-atlanta-public-schools-cheating-scandal-verdicts/