Atlanta Public School teachers and administrators implicated in the CRCT cheating scandal are being given ultimatums: quit or be fired.

School officials are “giving their intent to terminate, giving (accused teachers and administrators) the opportunity to resign,” said attorney Gerald Griggs. He represents a half dozen administrators and teachers accused in the nation’s biggest-ever academic cheating scandal.

One teacher who refused to be identified said this is the latest evidence of behind-the-scenes bullying on the part of school officials. 

But School Superintendent Erroll Davis, Jr., has said the district is spending more than $600,000 a month on salaries for teachers he won’t allow in the classroom because of the cheating allegations.

Davis met Wednesday with Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, striking an agreement by which school officials can look at criminal evidence gathered against some 120 teachers and administrators caught up in the cheating allegations. Previously, that information was sealed pending presentation to a grand jury probing the scandal.

“Some teachers – not my clients – are inclined to accept ultimatum and resign,” Griggs said. “They might have cheated. Not my clients. They didn’t cheat.”

In return for their resignations, Griggs said, accused cheaters would not have to face further disciplinary action. Their resignations would be effective March 15^th. Griggs didn’t know how many teachers or administrators might have accepted the deal. He said his clients were looking forward to presenting their cases to a school district tribunal that they’ll have to face if they don’t quit.