Hundreds of Bay Area high schoolers are being forced to retake their Advanced Placement exams after administrators tried to pack too many test takers into a classroom, to the outrage of teens and their parents.
School leaders in suburban Pleasanton met with parents on Friday to explain why about 400 students will have to retake their AP exams next week.
Students and parents found out Thursday afternoon that the California College Board found "seating irregularities" in two rooms during a testing session last month.
Desks were apparently not far enough apart and not facing the right direction.
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“We could have been a little bit more mindful of the placement of students,” Amador Valley Principal Tom Drescher said. “The blessing and the curse is we have more and more students taking AP every year, so we try to pack a couple more kids in, and by virtue of doing that we shifted the directionality of a table, and all students were impacted by that.”
The seats were not the required 5 feet apart, Drescher said. The principal offered his apologies to students.
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After months of studying and preparing, students will have to take the test again.
“The reason I’m so angry is because our kids didn’t do anything wrong, but they are the ones who are being punished,” said parent Heyoun Chung.
Drescher said the tests will be retaken quickly so the scores will be included with everyone else’s.
The superintendent of schools said teachers will do everything they can to support students and lighten the school load.
Amador’s principal said an anonymous tip led to the College Board’s investigation.
The same thing happened last year in Millbrae. The College Board and Educational Testing Service threw out hundreds of AP test scores from Mills High School after what they called "seating irregularities." Those students were also forced to retake the tests.
