ATLANTA — A former first grade teacher shared her reaction to a judge’s decision to lighten her sentence in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.

Shani Robinson said she’s been living with a dark cloud looming over her since a grand jury indicted her and 35 other APS teachers and administrators in 2013.

“I was facing 25 years in prison. A lot of my co-defendants were facing anywhere between 20 and 50 years in prison. So, it was definitely scary,” said Robinson.

She was teaching at Dunbar Elementary School in 2009 when investigators said teachers across the district changed standardized test answers to improve state scores for APS for financial gain.

After the 2013 indictment, many defendants began making plea deals.

Twelve went to trial to prove their innocence. A jury found 11 of them guilty. Robinson said some served prison time and some made sentencing agreements. She was part of five who appealed.

After years in limbo, a judge said Tuesday that the five can avoid prison time if they apologize to students. They all agreed.

“I do believe that the students of Atlanta deserve an apology,” said Robinson. “I’ve been very outspoken about this case in the past, about public education, and I believe our public education was designed for them to fail in the first place.”