More than 50 El Paso High School students might have to retake the SATs. The students didn’t cheat or violate any school policies, but they may have to retest because their answer sheets flew out of a UPS truck while being transported.
A video posted by Instagram user @Therealfitfamelpaso showed a UPS truck driving down a busy street in El Paso, while white papers were flying out. The loose papers were later identified as SAT answer sheets. According to BuzzFeed News, after the incident was reported to the school, all but 55 tests were accounted for.
The video was captioned, “What. The. Hell. El Paso High School seniors may have to retake their SATs after a @ups truck accidentally dumped their test sheets on Mesa.”
The post also shared images of an alert that was sent to the families from the El Paso Independent School District.
Liza Rodriguez, chief communications officer of the school district, released a statement about the incident.
“El Paso ISD is working closely with the College Board to determine a remedy for the El Paso High School students whose SAT exams were lost in transit after they were securely submitted to UPS,” Rodriguez said, according to BuzzFeed News.
She also stated that “counselors are providing students interested in taking the ACT with waivers to retake the exam at no cost.”
Students affected by the freak accident spoke with KFOX14 after discovering their exams were lost.
Ezra Ponzio had taken the test for the second time in hopes of getting a better score.
“I’d say that I felt pretty good going into it,” Ponzio told KFOX14. “I was hoping to land around a 1260 to 1300 this time.”
The senior added that he planned to apply to colleges early this year, but now, he can no longer do so.
“UPS, just try your best to make it right with us,” Ponzio said.
Some students, such as Zyenna Martinez, voiced their concerns about having their personal information on those SAT answer sheets out there in the world.
Martinez, the high school’s student body president, shared with KTSM that she feared for the privacy of the students.
“On the test score sheets, 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,” Martinez told KTSM. “It stinks because our identity is out there right now. Some people could have picked up some flyers.”
UPS released a statement to CNN regarding its efforts to rectify the situation.
“Our employees are working to recover as many tests as possible, and we will work with the school to resolve the situation,” the statement read.
In response to any localized disciplinary actions, the company made it clear that the driver’s actions “are not representative of UPS protocols and methods,” adding that they are addressing the incident with him.
The College Board, which regulates the SAT, stated that it will continue to “provide options for the impacted students,” KTSM reports.
“Occasionally test materials are lost in transit,” their official statement read. “When such instances occur, we work with the school to ensure that students are able to retest as soon as possible.”
