(AP/WSB Radio)
A Fulton County judge has ordered an Atlanta schools educator to talk to investigators in a test-tampering investigation.
White Elementary School para-professional Cynthia Harris was summoned last week to appear Friday morning before the governor's special investigators. She was to be interviewed as part of the probe into cheating on Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, because White was one of the schools with the highest number of erasures and wrong answers changed to the correct ones.
Harris' attorney filed a motion Thursday seeking to toss the subpoena, but state attorneys countered with their own motion seeking to put her on the stand.
"I don't see any reason under the law why she shouldn't comply with the subpoena," said
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall.
Schwall also directed investigators to provide Harris with an immunity agreement, which says she would not be prosecuted if she gives truthful information. The agreements are standard, according to Mike Bowers, who is one of the state's special investigators on the case.
Harris' lawyer said he was satisfied with the judge's decision, noting that he wanted to make sure Harris was protected because of contentions that some of the 800 or so educators and school officials interviewed so far have reported facing intimidation.
Bowers acknowledged that the interviews were stressful, but said, "We don't intimidate people."
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)