USA TODAY US Edition

Are sentences too harsh in cheating scandal?

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Ten ex-Atlanta Public Schools educators were sentenced Tuesday. All but one will serve time behind bars. They were convicted of conspiring to cheat on standardiz­ed tests.

The leaders were sentenced to seven years for cheating on tests? What a waste of our criminal system resources. Seriously, you can commit violent crimes and get less time than that. This is not justice. It is a joke.

Jay Isenberg

I taught for many years, and it was very stressful. You have to deal with students who don’t care to learn, parents who won’t support school but support sports, and administra­tors who want to know why students aren’t doing well on tests. Most teachers would not cheat, but some who are constantly battered might “cave” to their bosses. These teachers still need to be punished because honest teachers are being put in the same category as the bad ones.

Patricia Gulledge

Teachers who cheat, to the level of racketeeri­ng, need major financial pain and jail time.

Wayne Leslie

Corruption that robs taxpayers should not be tolerated, and these sentences were way too lenient. What a disgrace.

Jon Gilbert

For fraud and cheating a generation of children, I would have given them 20 years and made them pay back salaries.

Jay Piper

TWITTER @USATOPINIO­N

We asked what followers thought of the sentences for former educators in the Atlanta cheating scandal. These scandals only will get worse as more teachers and administra­tors are paid by how much test scores go up.

@everydaywi­tch The punishment for these teachers’ misdeeds screams hypocrisy. This is a total miscarriag­e of justice.

@AndFerrer1 Bankers wrecked our economy and are still raking in cash. School administra­tors who cheated on tests serving time? Wrong!

@wohelomom Students suffered from the behavior of Atlanta teachers and educators. They should be punished.

@betty_samuels This is terrible. Who did the educators harm? Fire them. That’s good enough.

@Marq2680

The punishment is fitting.

@b_joseph01 Seven-year prison sentences? Consistent guidelines and punishment options must be establishe­d.

@JerriWilli­ams1

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