Six Atlanta school administrators were suspended and one board member resigned Monday – in what is the first of many expected personnel changes in the Atlanta Public School system.
Board member Khaatim El says he's resigning from the board, which is now deciding what actions to take against nearly 180 educators accused of cheating.
"I failed to protect thousands of children who came from a home like mine,'' El said.
He recently stepped down as chairman of the board, and his resignation from the board altogether comes as school board members met Monday for a regularly scheduled board meeting.
"I just concluded in the end it just shouldn't be this hard to do the right things for kids," El said, fighting back tears. "I failed to protect thousands of children who come from homes like mine. It remains to be seen, no matter how deep this thing goes, whether the soul of Atlanta has been stirred."
El officially resigned with a letter to new board chairwoman Brenda Muhammad. His resignation is effective immediately. El has accepted a new job as chief of staff for the Foundation for Newark's Future in Newark, N.J. He was one of the first on the board last year to question APS whether was doing enough to respond to cheating concerns.
Board members went into a closed session at Monday's meeting to discuss the fate of those named in the cheating scandal.
Interim Superintendent Erroll Davis also made his first stand against those implicated in the scandal. He suspended four area superintendents and two principals.
“We will have a full complement of teachers and principals, none of whom have been implicated in this investigation,” Davis said.
The four removed from area superintendent jobs -- Sharon Davis-Williams, Michael Pitts, Robin Hall and Tamara Cotman -- were implicated in the scandal.
Davis also said that two year-round elementary schools named in a state investigative report made public last week will receive new principals before classes start Wednesday.
Keisha Gibbons, former assistant principal at Centennial Place Elementary School, was named principal of Boyd Elementary; she replaces Emalyn Foreman. The new principal for Hutchinson Elementary will be named Tuesday, Davis said.
Davis did not offer further changes, though more certainly will come. Given employees' contractual and legal rights to due process, it will take at least four months if not longer to address all employees involved.
Elevated to area superintendent positions were Donell Underdue Jr., principal of Brown Middle School; Danielle Battle, principal of King Middle School; Elizabeth Bockman, principal of Inman Middle School, and David White, principal of E. Rivers Elementary School.
Monday night's meeting was the first in which staff and parents had a chance to address board members publicly. For an hour, the standing-room-only crowd berated and pleaded for district officials to regain control even as they defended some of the schools that investigators said cheated the most.
Chandra Gallashaw, whose daughters attend Parks Middle and Gideons Elementary schools, challenged the board for not acting sooner.
"My daughters are ready to go to work with these teachers," Gallashaw said. "I'm tired of this mess."
Former APS teacher Graham Balch said his first job at Coan Middle School lasted only a few weeks before a run-in with the principal got him transferred to a different campus. Investigators said that Principal Andre Williams knew of cheating, though he denied it. Balch taught for four years at Grady High School until he left the district in May. He is now an assistant principal at a DeKalb charter school.
"I called a teacher who I think is the best teacher I ever met, and what we realized is that high performers in APS try to keep a low profile," Balch said. "They keep saying they never heard teachers voice concerns. Well, the reason they didn't hear teachers voice concerns was because they were silenced."