Educators Gone Bad...But This Much Prison Time?

From the Las Vegas Sun: All but one of 10 former Atlanta public school educators convicted in a widespread conspiracy to inflate student scores on standardized tests were sentenced to jail time Tuesday, and the judge called the cheating scandal "the sickest thing that's ever happened in this town."

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter had delayed sentencing by a day and encouraged all to negotiate deals with prosecutors. But only two agreed to deals. In both those cases, Baxter followed the state's recommendations: He gave a former teacher a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew at home for one year and a former testing coordinator six months of weekends spent in jail. They'll also serve five years on probation.

Despite their lawyers' pleas for probation and community service, the remaining eight received harsher sentences, ranging from one to seven years in jail. They are expected to appeal and will be free on bond while the appeals are pending.
A state investigation found that as far back as 2005, educators from the 50,000-student Atlanta school system fed answers to students or erased and changed answers on tests after they were turned in. Evidence of cheating was found in 44 schools with nearly 180 educators involved, and teachers who tried to report it were threatened with retaliation.
In 2013, 35 educators were indicted on charges including racketeering, making false statements and theft. Many pleaded guilty before the trial, and some testified at the monthslong trial. The jury acquitted one of the 12 former educators who went to trial and convicted the other 11 of racketeering...
For them, Baxter went above prosecutors' recommendations of three years imprisonment. He ordered them to serve seven years in prison with the remainder of a 20-year sentence on probation, 2,000 hours of community service and a $25,000 fine.
During sentencing, Baxter called the cheating "pervasive."
"It's like the sickest thing that's ever happened in this town," he said.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2015/apr/14/jail-9-10-ex-educators-atlanta-test-cheating-case/
Ok, what these teachers did was bad and unethical.
But to go to prison for 7 years for the cheating seems to be a bit excessive, especially since they really didn't gain financially for the cheating and violent criminals and bank robbers also receive less prison time.  Further, with Obama and his treatment of illegals and letting people who knowingly break our laws, often many times over not only stay out of prison but are rewarded with citizenship, this punishment seems to be excessive.
And for the judges comment: "It's like the sickest thing that's ever happened in this town," he said., well, that seems to be a little crazy.  How about all the murders in the Atlanta area, including the murders committed by Wayne Williams, when he killed around 28 young men/kids.
And then there was Mark Barton who killed 12 people and injured another 13 in 1999 in a 1 day killing spree.
So, the sickest that ever happened in Atlanta?
I doubt it.