ATLANTA, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The former Atlanta Public Schools human resources chief pleaded guilty in a standardized test cheating case, the highest ranking educator to admit wrongdoing.
In a plea agreement announced Monday, Millicent Few, 55, said former Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall knew of the cheating and ordered Few to destroy investigations of suspicious score increases on standardized tests, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday.
"You were up at the top, and the state, it appears, needs you as an important witness in this case. It's their position that you observed it first-hand," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter said.
Few will likely be a witness for the prosecution when the case against the remaining defendants goes to trial, Baxter said.
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Few pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of malfeasance in office, the Journal-Constitution said.
"I want to sincerely apologize to the citizens of Atlanta and specifically the students," Few told the court. "I want to apologize to them and I look forward to hopefully moving forward with my life."
Few will serve one year of probation, contribute 250 hours of community service and pay $800 in restitution. As a first-time offender, she won't have a conviction on her record if she completes her probation.
She also agreed to cooperate in the case against the remaining defendants accused of conspiring to cheat, including Hall, who pleaded not guilty.
In the plea agreement, Few acknowledged Hall ordered the shredding of documents from an internal investigation of cheating. Few said she became convinced by 2008 of widespread cheating in the school system but didn't tell investigators about it when she was questioned in 2011.
Few was the 19th defendant to plead guilty. Fifteen defendants remain, although prosecutors said more plea deals could be reached before trial later this spring.
