A widespread cheating scheme at Argonaut High School was foiled last week when
students were discovered using test answers that could be traced back to a
central school computer program. "About a week ago a couple of students were found in
the library with these tiny little cheat sheets with the answers on them,"
said Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Michael Carey.
Carey says the conspiracy is believed to extend to at least 16 students. The
answers were stolen from a program called Accelerated Reader designed to
improve student reading skills. An investigation eventually led back to one student, an 18-year old
named A.T. Herrick. When confronted, Herrick admitted to stealing the
information on a disc last September. Although the tests students
cheated were only ten percent of their overall grade, Carey says swift
punishment will be taken. Grades will be lowered, and combined with the senior
status of the students, the new GPA’s could keep two or three of them from
graduating. The mother of Herrick says that her son has learned a valuable
lesson and is embarrassed and apologetic.
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