Brea Olinda School Board to Review Cheating Case

Verifying that two separate cases of student cheating occurred at Brea Olinda High School in June, school administrators said they will review tonight disciplinary actions taken against some of the teenagers involved.

The incidents involved a valedictorian who altered his overall English grade before graduation and a dozen incoming seniors who shared a stolen copy of an honors physics test.

The cheating controversy comes four years after a much larger scandal involving manipulated records hit the same high school.

Of the two cases this year, the one involving the valedictorian has been resolved, Brea Olinda Unified Supt. Peggy Lynch said. In the other case, the school board will meet in a closed session tonight to further discuss the matter after parents of other students complained that the cheating deserved harsher discipline.

School officials took away the valedictorian’s title and barred him from graduation ceremonies, said teachers, parents and students. But he received his diploma and had plans to attend UCLA.

The top student, who originally was one of three valedictorians, was caught tampering with his English grade, said Rachel Sweet, the teen’s English teacher. Sweet said the student had entered her computer files and added points to his overall grade to raise it from a B to an A. Sweet said she caught the tampering when she reviewed grades and noticed that this student’s points seemed off.

“It’s a terrible disappointment that this happened,” said Sweet, who recently retired after teaching in the district for 22 years.

In the other case, a dozen juniors--some of whom had been elected as student government leaders for this coming year--were given failing grades on their physics final.

The students’ names are being withheld because they are minors.

“The board policy is that if cheating occurs, on a first offense the student receives an F on that item,” Lynch said. “The policy was followed and the hearing will review an administrative decision regarding the penalties.”

Lynch would not comment in detail on the cases to avoid breaking student confidentiality laws.

Ron Wenkart, an attorney for the county Department of Education, said the district’s actions seemed fair.

“Those are reasonable punishments,” Wenkart said. “Five days of suspension is the most serious I’ve heard, depending on the surrounding circumstance.”

But some parents complained that the punishments were too light. Still unclear is whether the student leaders, including the senior class president, will be able to keep their elected offices.

That will be addressed at the board meeting, school officials said.

The two incidents surprised some parents and students at Brea Olinda High, a 1,900-student school well regarded for strong test scores, athletics and student achievements.

“There’s cheating that goes on at every high school,” said student Lindsey Davidson, who will be a senior in the fall. “We work so hard to do well. But this is just going to make us look bad.’

In 1994, an outside auditor found that about 300 student transcripts had been improperly altered. Traditional grades of A, B, C and D were changed to a “pass” to improve students’ records, the investigation found.

In addition, some students took the same course twice under different titles and received credit both times.

The latest cheating cases, however, are hardly as egregious as the one four years ago, the district superintendent said.

“I think it is unfortunate that the school will be painted this way by the actions of a small number of students,” Lynch said.