ALBANY, GA -
Dougherty County taxpayers will pay more than $3,500 a day to 16 teachers and principals who won't be doing their normal jobs. The Dougherty County School Board voted to remove the accused cheaters from their jobs.
But instead of sitting home collecting a paycheck, they'll have to show up to the system's Isabella Complex. What they'll be doing is still up in air.
The school system wants to deal with discipline for principals first, but they'll have to reach an understanding with the District Attorney to see the state's evidence before anything can move forward.
Of the assignment to the Isabella Complex, DCSS Attorney Tommy Coleman said, "It's an effort to get them out of the classroom, but yet because we can't terminate the contract without a hearing, but yet send them somewhere but if there's some duty the Superintendent can find for them to do, it's my understanding he intends to assign them to do that then."
Superintendent Joshua Murfree met this morning with Kenneth Goseer the Assistant Superintendent, in an effort to discuss what duties they could assist with, personnel, the SAC Review Team, Athletics, or Inventory Control. They're working to create equivalent tasks for all 16.
If Dougherty County's investigation proceeds like the Atlanta School System's they could be there a while, getting paid more than $77,000 a month. "They haven't had one hearing, and their investigation was completed, I think, six months before ours," said Coleman.
It will be weeks before the evidence is even available. "The evidence itself won't be available for two weeks or maybe three weeks, it won't be in a form it can be transferred to anybody."
Then it will go to the District Attorney, Greg Edwards, not the school system. "I would hope at some point we could reach an accommodation, we just found this out yesterday before the meeting and so we have not met with the DA."
Many parents with children in the school system believe board members have done the best they can for now. "I feel like that's fair enough until they can have the hearing, you know go further into it to actually see what happened," said parent Trayce McVay.
Coleman says his plan is to proceed with hearings for the three principals first as soon as possible.
The other six principals named in the report will remain in their regular jobs for now. They're not accused of cheating, just failing to supervise testing activities and signing off on. The Superintendent is still working on recommendations to make to the board in those cases.
Coleman said those principals and the other educators named in the report could get letters of reprimand or more severe punishment.
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Superintendent Joshua Murfree
DCSS Attorney Tommy Coleman
