Tabeeka Jordan

VERDICT: RICO: GUILTY, False statements: NOT GUILTY, Theft by taking: NOT GUILTY

SENTENCE: Five years to serve two, three years probation, 1,500 hours of community hours and $5,000 fine. Sentenced as a first offender.

Deerwood Elementary Assistant Principal Tabeeka Jordan faced one charge of racketeering, one count of false statements and writings and on count of theft by taking.

Reports say Jordan rounded up tests of 21 low-performing students and had teacher's change their wrong answers to right ones.

Lavonia Farrell taught for 34-years before retiring.  She says she was brought back to become the testing coordinator at Deerwood Academy.  While there, she said, her assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan, convinced her and another teacher to cheat on the 2008 and the 2009 CRCT.

Farrell testified that Jordan calculated they needed an additional 21 students to pass the CRCT in 2008 in order for Deerwood to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

According to Farrell, Jordan rounded up the tests of 21 low-performing students and had her and another teacher change their wrong answers to right ones.  Farrell said they sometimes used the answer sheets from Deerwood’s “smart kids” as a key for changing the wrong answers.

WSBTV