Georgia Professional Standards Commission

1. Georgia Professional Standards Commission Code of Ethics Presentation First District RESA

2. Gary Walker

3. New and Improved Gary Walker

4. Probable Cause Results Year Denied Revoked Voluntary Total Surrender FY 2001 15 58 14 87 FY 2002 20 44 16 80 FY 2003 31 62 21 114 FY 2004 26 57 20 103 FY 2005 25 93 22 140 FY 2006 42 72 17 131 FY 2007 23 76 26 125 FY 2008 33 54 16 103 FY 2009 25 71 27 123 FY 2010 13 67 28 108 FY 2011 18 58 20 96

5. Sanctions-Feb. 2011-March 2012 • Legal compliance-26 • Conduct with Students-90 • Alcohol and Drugs-39 • Honesty-45 • Public Funds and Property-33 • Remunerative Conduct-2 • Confidential Information-2

6. Sanctions • Abandonment of Contract-7 • Required Reports-15 • Professional Conduct-47 • Testing-92 • Total-398

7. Most Frequent Violations in 2011 • Testing-87 sanctions • Inappropriate Relations with Students-85 sanctions • Honesty-44 sanctions • Professional Conduct-42 sanctions

8. Sanction • Should a certificate be revoked, it is the responsibility of the Superintendent that the Educator not be allowed on a school campus or work with students for the duration of the sanction.

9. Testing • PSC has not endorsed any testing guidelines • GADOE establishes guidelines and sets parameters • PSC reviews complaints and issues sanctions based on the evidence and individual set of circumstances

10. APS • 182 cases have been submitted to PSC • 83 cases in which sanctions have been issued to the Educator’s certificate • 67 sanctions were administered at April 12 meeting of the Commission • 99 cases awaiting investigation and review by the Commission

11. Special InvestigatorsBowers, Wilson, and Hyde • Organized and systematic wrong doing • Culture of fear and conspiracy of silence • Pattern of interference by top APS leadership in attempt to gather evidence

12. WTR Erasures-Standard Deviations • 3 standard deviations-1 in 370 • 4 standard deviations-1 in 15,788 • 5 standard deviations-1 in 1,774,278 • 6 standard deviations-1 in 560,800,000 • 7 standard deviations-1 in 390,600,000,000 • Many individual classes had Standard Deviations ranging from the 20’s to the 50’s

13. All Georgia Schools Grouped into Four Categories • Clear of Concern-80% of all schools • Minimal Concern-10% of all schools • Moderate Concern-6% of all schools • Severe Concern-4% of all schools • APS- 51% of middle and elementary schools were in the severe concern

14. Probability • Virtually impossible for so many WTR erasures to occur without human intervention • It is more likely that the Ga. Dome is filled to capacity with all over seven feet tall • or if you flip two coins simultaneously and they land on edge, perfectly balanced, one on top of the other three times in a row. • Amazingly, in some classrooms, these odds occurred not in one subject but in English/LA, Math, and Reading

15. Verification of the Erasure Analysis • Retained expert to review analysis • Inspected CTB McGraw-Hill facility and interviewed staff • Observed answer document scanning process • Compared results of erasure analysis to reanalysis of selected and random test documents • Manually reviewed thousands of answer sheets and compared to original analysis

16. PSC requirements • Not a criminal law court • Our duty-preponderance of evidence-is it more likely it happened than didn’t happen? • Look for something that links the Educator to the cheating

17. Major Testing Violations • Breach of Test Security • Fail to provide or attend training • Fail to follow directions specified in the manual • Coach, prompt, alter or provide answers to students during the test • Interpret, explain, or paraphrase test items • Copy or take notes on test items

18. Standard #11-Testing Cases • Educator administered 2011 CRCT-16 out of 20 students indicated the teacher verbally or physically assisted them with answering questions • Educator admits she falsified student work and assisted in staging pictures for the GAA portfolio • Educator (principal) did not properly supervise the test coordinator. The test coordinator allowed extra time to complete portions of the CRCT

19. TESTING • Educator administered the EOCT to her ESOL math class students and the students reported that others talked, played music, and called out answers during the test.

20. Superintendent’s Role • Superintendent has ultimate responsibility and accountability for all testing activities within the local school system • Develops local policies and procedures based on Georgia Department of Education guidelines and test publisher’s direction to maintain test security • Supervises and monitors Principals to ensure they fulfill their specific roles and responsibilities for the administration of tests

21. Superintendent’s Role • Ensures all personnel involved with testing receive training on appropriate test administration, policies, and procedures including accommodations for each assessment given • Informs the local BOE, state coordinator, and the Professional Standards Commission of any breach of security by employees of the system

22. Principal’s Role • Principal is ultimately responsible and accountable for all testing activities in the school • Ensures test security within the building • Ensures distribution of test materials occurs immediately prior to testing • Supervises all testing activities • Ensures all school personnel have been appropriately trained on test administration, procedures, and policies

23. Principal’s Role • Ensures that documented accommodations (IEP, IAP, TPC) have been given to only those students who appropriately need them • Implements system and school testing policies and procedures to ensure all students are tested fairly and appropriately • Reports immediately any breach of security to the Superintendent

24. Board’s Role • Provides resources to employees that enhance student learning • Asks about training provided to teacher’s regarding state testing • Strives for steady improvement • Studies data and the information it provides • Looks for unreasonable student gains • Looks for logical explanations for increased or decreased test scores

25. Teacher’s Role • Attend training • Be familiar with examiner’s manual • Follow directions • Arrange seats to promote individual work • Circulate about the classroom to prevent cheating and other violations • Be familiar with allowable student accommodations • Account for all testing materials

26. Gary Walker

27. I Can’t Sing So……

28. Professional Relationship Boundary Sexual Misconduct

29. Sexual Abuse of Students The UnforgivableBoundaryViolation Sexual Abuse is defined as ANY sex act with a student!

30. Revocation Sexual Abuse of Students

31. Standard #2-Cases involving Conduct with Students • The Educator admitted kissing a student on two separate occasions but denied having sex. A review of cellular phone records indicated the student and educator exchanged 4043 text messages in 82 days. The Educator resigned. • An 18 year old student reported the educator initiated sex with him in her home. She admitted the inappropriate relationship. Law enforcement dropped charges when they realized student was 18.

32. Conduct With Students • The Educator removed a disruptive student from another teacher’s classroom. A videotape of the incident revealed that the Educator forcefully threw the student down to the floor. The student sustained a chipped tooth and several loosened teeth.

33. Student Relationship Guidelines E-mail Phone Calls Be Friendly, Not a Friend. Gossip Parties Inappropriate Jokes Photographs

34. Choose Appropriate Settings Student Relationship Guidelines Home Auto Closet Dark Room

35. Student Relationship Guidelines Social Networking Don’t accept students as friends and decline any student initiated social network friend requests. Don’t post anything on a website that you would not post on the front door of the school.

36. Standard #4-Cases involving Honesty • The Educator admits to having signed or initialed the names of other teachers and a parent’s name to the IEP. The Educator admitted a formal IEP meeting was never held. • The Educator admitted to falsifying a letter of reference from a previous administrator and submitting it as part of an employment application

37. Standard #10-Cases involving Professional Conduct • Witnesses confirmed the fact that the Educator brought a stun gun to class to show to a teacher who had recently been robbed. He acknowledged that he discharged the gun in a kindergarten classroom.

38. Professional Conduct • The Educator admitted taking a photo of a kindergarten student in class engaging in behavior that appeared to be masturbation to show to a counselor since the student’s older sister had exhibited the same behavior last school year. The Educator showed the picture to his assistant, a special education teacher, and the nurse-but never to the counselor. He carried the photo on his phone for 5 weeks until ordered to remove by HRO

39. Standard#5 -Public Funds • Misusing school-related funds • Co-mingling funds • Using school property without approval of local board or authorized designee • Using school property for personal gain

40. Public Funds-Areas of Concern • Booster Clubs using School System Tax ID versus separate Tax ID • Camps • Who files tax returns • Copy of tax returns on file • Public records • School systems control Booster Clubs; Booster Clubs do not control School Systems

41. Cases involving Public Funds • The Educator, a coach, ordered items for the team when there was not enough money in the booster club account and without authorization or a purchase order. When confronted, the Educator denied authorizing the purchase of the items • The Educator, a middle school band director, pawned a French horn belonging to the school system. Also, he provided false information during the course of the school system’s investigation

42. Cases involving Public Funds • The Educator admitted to opening and managing two booster club accounts. The Educator deposited booster club funds into a personal account. • Educators should not have access to Booster Club accounts

43. Standard #3 - Alcohol or Drugs An educator shall refrain from the use of alcohol or illegal or unauthorized drugs during the course of professional practice.

44. Standard 3: Alcohol or Drugs Possession = Possession of a CONTAINER of alcoholic beverage (not in the blood stream). Bottles, Cans, Etc.

45. Fortification The educator admits consuming two glasses of wine prior to attending a school talent show. Three teachers witnessed the educator's manifestations of intoxication. The educator had glassy red eyes, slightly slurred speech, generally giddy behavior and the odor of an alcoholic beverage on her person. Suspended

46. Alcohol or Drugs A teacher had concerns about the educator’s “peculiar” behavior and suspected he was under the influence. The teacher did not report the concern until the end of the day when the educator had left to begin a 3-day weekend. The next week the educator claimed he had taken some OTC medicine for pain. NPC

47. Gary Walker

48. Quote • The only reason some people are still alive is it is against the law to shoot them

49. Standard #9 - Required Reports An educator shall file reports of a breach of one or more of the standards in the Code of Ethics for Educators, child abuse, or any other required report.

50. Mandated Reporting • Child Abuse-24 hours to DFACS • Student having weapon on school grounds or at a school function • Student involved with a controlled substance • PSC-Up to 90 days for most violations but encouraged to file as soon as possible