"I couldn't believe it."
There were stunned reactions on the faces of 11 educators in what's being called the biggest cheating scandal in U.S. history.
They were found guilty of falsifying student test scores in Atlanta.
Only one teacher, Dessa Curb, was found not guilty, and she's now speaking to INSIDE EDITION's Diane McInerney.
McInerney asked, "When you heard the verdict, how did you react?"
She replied, "I thanked God. I bowed my head and thanked God."
Curb breathed a sigh of relief when she was acquitted, but it pained her to watch her colleagues being handcuffed and hauled off to jail. The judge showed no mercy.
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The judge told them in court, “They have made their bed and they're going to have to lie in it and it starts today.”
Curb told McInerney, "I truly couldn't believe it. I never imagined them arrested and in handcuffs and taken to jail."
The educators were found guilty of giving students answers to standardized tests and even changing the answers so the educators could keep their jobs or receive bonuses.
Curb said, "I kept telling everybody, 'I don't know how I got mixed up in this.'"
McInerney asked, "Did you ever witness any educators tampering with student tests?"
"No, I did not," she replied.
The trial took six months. The courtroom was so packed that the 12 defendants and their lawyers couldn't even sit together.
Curb's attorney is Sanford Wallack also spoke to McInerney.
McInerney asked him, "Why do you think they went after Dessa?"
He replied, "Because all it took was somebody to make the false claim that she cheated. It was a Salem witchhunt, McCarthyism-type atmosphere."
Prosecutors say the Atlanta cheating scandal involved 44 schools, 178 educators, and 38 school principals.
Curb said, "I know cheating never crossed my mind. Talking with them, none of them admitted cheating and I believe them."
Her fellow educators now face up to 20 years in prison after the cheating scandal that shocked America.
"I couldn't really be happy because I feel so bad for them," said Curb.
