CBS Atlanta 46State senator asks chamber president to step down over cheating scandal

Two state lawmakers and the head of a taxpayers group are calling for the president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to step down over his handling of the Atlanta school system's massive cheating scandal.

State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, State Rep. Gloria Tinubu, D-Atlanta, and Barbara Payne of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation made the announcement Wednesday outside the chamber's downtown headquarters.

"The business community has, I believe, direct culpability in this scandal," Fort said.

When state auditors first found alarming numbers of wrong-to-right erasures on the 2009 CRCT, the president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Sam Williams, hand-picked a Blue Ribbon Commission to investigate."Mr. Williams and his staff decided that it was best to spin the situation, not to be honest, not to be open, not to be direct, but protect Beverly Hall, protect the cheaters," said Fort.

The Blue Ribbon Commission reported that it did not find "any district wide or centrally coordinated effort" to manipulate students' scores.

But earlier this month, special investigators appointed by former Gov. Sonny Perdue, submitted an extensive report that found widespread cheating in 44 Atlanta schools. The and that then-Superintendent Beverly Hall knew – or should have known about it. 

"We are also calling on the state investigators to investigate even more into the Metro Atlanta Chamber's role in the APS cheating cover up and to hopefully indict some of these folks," said Payne.

The governor's special investigators concluded, however, that the business community was duped by Hall.

"While the district had rampant cheating, community leaders were unaware of the misconduct in the district," the report stated. "She abused the trust they placed in her. Hall became a subject of adoration and made herself the focus rather than the children."

Fort disagreed, saying that the business community desperately wanted to protect Atlanta's image at the expense of children.

"Thousands, probably tens of thousands of children, were cheated out of the help that they needed," Fort said.

Williams declined to comment on the call for his resignation.

Stay with CBSAtlanta.com for updates.

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