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Georgia: The good guys get to win one every once and again

James Hope is celebrating his latest victory Monday over state ethics watchdogs.

A state appeals court refused to hear the Georgia Professional Standards Commission's case against the Gwinnett teacher.

The rejection by the Georgia Court of Appeals could mean that Hope finally has won the right to keep his job at Centerville Elementary School -- once and for all.

"This is a victory for the freedom of speech of teachers and a defeat for educational bureaucracy and the phony high standards movement,'' said Hope, who will be featured in a book released this month, "Silent No More: Voices of Courage in American Schools."

The standards commission was seeking to suspend Hope for breaching his confidentiality agreement with Gwinnett County Public Schools in April 2000, when the fourth-grade teacher had six Gateway questions posted on the Internet.

Gwinnett school officials said Monday they were disappointed by the court's decision.

"We believe the PSC acted appropriately in carrying the appeal forward," said Berney Kirkland, a spokeswoman for Gwinnett County Public Schools. "In so doing, they affirmed the thousands of excellent teachers who hold fast to their profession's code of ethics and behave accordingly in educating Georgia's children."

Hope said he publicized the questions to show that the test was confusing and that cutoff scores were so low, virtually anyone could pass.

In December, a Superior Court judge cleared Hope of wrongdoing, but the commission did not agree with the opinion.

In January, the PSC voted 12-1 to send the case to the state appeals court for its consideration.

Now that the appeals court has refused to entertain the appeal, the PSC could try one last-ditch effort -- it could take the case all the way to the state Supreme Court.

But lawyers for Hope don't think it will go that far.

"It's all over,'' said Terry Thomas, Hope's lawyer and the associate director of the Georgia Association of Educators. "The good guys get to win one every once and again.

"It has gone on for this long because the school system had to save face. I think they were a force behind the scenes in trying to get the PSC to do what politically they could not do -- fire James Hope."

Officials with the PSC could not be reached for comment.

The school system still has an open criminal investigation against Hope.

"They are going to look petty and vindictive for doing anything more,'' Hope said. "As far as I'm concerned, they should either arrest me now or close the criminal investigation and let the taxpayers know how much money they have spent on it.''


— D. Aileen Dodd
Teacher who posted Gateway questions keeps job
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Feb. 4, 2003
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/gwinnett/0203/04hope.html

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