CRCT probe is back at full steam

Baseball hall-of-famer Yogi Berra is one of the most quoted — or at least, most attributed — people in America as far as humorous quips that neatly sum up perplexing situations. “It ain’t over till it’s over” has been quoted ad naseum, but, frankly, it applied to Thursday in Albany as well as anything.

On Wednesday evening, the Dougherty County School System looked to be off the hook as far as the state’s investigation into possible cheating on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests that were administered to first- through eighth-graders in the Dougherty public schools in 2009.

On Tuesday, the governor released the report on the Atlanta school district, the only other one that was being investigated for an abnormal number, by the state’s reckoning, of wrong-to-right corrections on the 2009 tests. A report Wednesday by The Associated

Press, which had access to an 800-page report on the year-long probe into the Atlanta schools, had a paragraph near the end of the article that simply stated: “Dougherty County was later dropped from the state investigation because a Deal spokeswoman said the governor was satisfied with the district’s probe.” That referred to the self-investigation that the Dougherty School System conducted at the state’s behest, one that found no cheating, but which also was not accepted by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.

We asked for confirmation from the governor’s office, but not much was forthcoming. There was a promise of more information Thursday. Finally on Wednesday evening, Stephanie Mayfield in Deal’s office confirmed in an email that The Associated Press account was correct.

Local officials were surprised. They had been preparing for the state investigators, led by former Attorney General Mike Bowers, to place their sights on Albany now that the Atlanta probe was concluded.

There was, no doubt, a desire to be elated, but the murkiness of how the information got out — despite the confirmation from Mayfield — kept remarks low key.

And, it turns out, for good reason.

After most of the day Thursday without the promised fuller statement on when the Dougherty probe was dropped and why, shortly before 6 p.m., we got an email. The investigation, it turns out, is continuing.

“After reviewing the preliminary results of the investigation in Dougherty County on Wednesday, contrary to my initial impression, I do not believe the investigation should be terminated,” Bowers said in a message to Deal. “Given those preliminary results, it is my recommendation that we complete the investigation in Dougherty. We will do this expeditiously with as little intrusion into the school system as is possible.”

Deal stated, “After completing the Atlanta Public Schools report, we had hoped that we were at a stopping point. Unfortunately, I have received word today that the investigators’ review of their preliminary results in Dougherty County has raised grave concerns. We owe it to the children of Dougherty County to get answers, and our commitment to equal protection under the law requires us to treat all jurisdictions equally. In other words, the state simply cannot single out Atlanta if strong evidence suggests similar patterns elsewhere.

The governor said he has instructed his investigators to report to him on Dougherty “as quickly as possible.”

So, what are we to make of all this?

For one thing, somebody in the governor’s office botched something.

It’s pretty clear that not everyone involved in the CRCT investigation had signed off on the decision to drop the Dougherty investigation.

It’s also clear that officials in high places have a hard time saying, “Oops! My mistake.” The whole communications process in this “probe on/probe off” controversy has been deficient.

What we can all hope happens now is that this cloud of stigma that suddenly dissipated and then grew back will be resolved as quickly as possible. Bowers, we believe, will do a thorough and fair assessment. After that, let the chips fall where they may. If wrong-doing has occurred, we should all want it rooted out. If everything is found to be above board, we certainly invite that confirmation.

What we need is a resolution. The sooner the better.