Some El Paso High School students are being required to retake their SATs after a number of tests flew out of a UPS truck while in transit.
via People:
The El Paso Independent School District told new station KTSM 9 News that all but 55 tests that flew out were recovered, and the tests affected were all taken on Oct. 27 at El Paso High School. It is not clear how many of those recovered were still viable.
The College Board released a statement to KTSM 9 News saying, “occasionally test materials are lost in transit” and when this happens, “we work with the school to ensure that students are able to retest as soon as possible.”
The College Board did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
UPS also issued an apology to the school and its students. In a statement to PEOPLE, the company said, “our employees are working to recover as many tests as possible, and we will work with the school to resolve the situation.
The company continued, “The driver’s actions, in this case, are not representative of UPS protocols and methods, and we are addressing this with him.”
Ezra Ponzio — a senior who had been hoping to apply to college early — told El Paso’s KFOX14 that he was one of the students that lost their SAT exams. He is asking UPS to “try your best to make it right with us.”
“It turns out that around 250 of them were completely destroyed and unusable, but all the tests became invalid because they could have been tampered with,” Ponzio told KFOX14. “That is still time and effort that went into studying and trying to do good on this test.”
Some students said that they had actually seen the SAT papers flying around town.
Raina Porras, a junior at the school, told the news station KTSM 9 Newsthat her mom noticed the test papers while they were driving down the street. “She was like, ‘Oh they’re actually scantron bubbles ’cause you can see the little bubbles if you really looked,’ so I looked and I could see the bubbles.”
However, some students have also expressed worry that their personal information may have been compromised with the tests flying freely around.
“We have all of our information and identification on the score — our location where we live, our address, our date of birth, all of our information,” El Paso High School student body president Zyenna Martinez told KTSM 9 News. “And it stinks because our identity is out there right now. Some people could have picked up some flyers.”
The College Board said it will continue to work with El Paso High School “to provide options for the impacted students.”
Well…at least they already know what’s on the test. They should use this unfortunate circumstance to their advantage!
