<p>Totalderiv-- would you say this is a common issue with kids your age, just in general? What do you think could be done to make it go away?</p>
<p>The Montgomery County State’s attorney is opening a criminal investigation. According to yesterday’s Wash Post:
"Police, prosecutors and school officials are examining the actions of at least eight students who allegedly used a USB device to steal teachers’ passwords and change the grades of 54 students. Nearly 700 student records have been subpoenaed, and three of the eight students identified as ringleaders have left the school. </p>
<p>“We don’t know the scope,” said Capt. Paul Starks, a Montgomery County police spokesman. “We’re just beginning the investigation.” He said detectives are particularly interested in unauthorized use of computers, which can be a crime in Maryland. "</p>
<p>The remaining five students still in the country have not returned to school since the scandal broke. I would not be suprised if they have already faced expulsion. Principal is holding a forum for parents next Monday night.</p>
<p>This has been heartbreaking for many parents at WCHS</p>
<p>I can’t imagine any circumstances that would make expulsion inappropriate. That’s as a start.</p>
<p>rphmom - are you a Churchill parent? Wil you be attending the Monday night meeting? If so, I hope you will post about it. Very curious to hear what else comes out at that meeting.</p>
<p>“If they’s raised a few grades for a few friends, I’d say it was a prank.”</p>
<p>Prank? A prank is something harmless and silly. Pranks don’t involve this kind of behavior that affects college chances, class ranks, etc.</p>
<p>“Some of my friends, who are very competent with computers, have done this before. As long as you change the numbers a little bit at a time, you won’t get caught. It’s hard not to say something, but they’re my friends.”</p>
<p>People who get away with doing things like this when they are teens are likely to continue doing it as adults, and will eventually get caught and sent to prison. If you really are their friend, do your best to convince them to stop. Realize, too, that if they get caught, all of their friends may be suspected, too, of having had grades changed, etc.</p>
<p>NSM-- I think that we know the brain research about teenagers, at this point, and we also know that they don’t really realize they can hurt other people by helping themselves. However, the second they start to “Lower” other kids grades, I see maliciousness rather than idiotic teen behavior, which should be punished, of course, but I still think, as a prank.</p>
<p>yes, you and I know this raising of grades can impact others, since colleges insist on continuing to compare based on percentiles and class ranks. Kids, depending on the kid, might or might not be aware of this.</p>
<p>The addition of lowering the other grades and the taking of money changes my opinion, which goes to intent.</p>
<p>Rockville Mom,
I plan to attend Monday night’s meeting. I am less interested in hearing what actions are planned against the involved students than on what preventive measures Montgomery County public schools will take to ensure that a security breach does not happen again. I am saddened that a handful of cheating students has tarnished Churchill’s academic reputation and integrity.</p>
<p>I actually wonder what can really be done to stop computer hacking in these cases. The state department worries about hackers. Microsoft worries about hackers. Hackers are young, just by virtue of understanding the technology. Like the kid who posted earlier, I just wonder if this kind of thing, or some version of this, isn’t going on in so many high schools and colleges. </p>
<p>How were records kept before the hackable computer?</p>
<p>With respect to preventing future problems, two relatively easy possibilities:
- Logging of all grade changes within a teacher’s grade file (assignment, student, date, time, orig grade, new grade, IP address of the computer) all kept on a separate server, and analysis software that looks for problems and provides written reports (not delivered electronically) to teachers periodically identifying any changed grades.
- Stronger authentication required to change grades, such as challenge questions (what was the model of the car your family had while you were in elementary school, what was your maternal grandfather’s first name,…)</p>
<p>rphmom - agree - please post after the meeting. I read in the paper that the students involved/affected were juniors - is that true? I’m just thinking that at least you don’t have a scenario where colleges are looking at transcripts of seniors from Churchill and wondering if they are legit. That would truly be a disaster. I’m sure whatever changes are implemented will effect all of MCPS - so that’s why I am so interested.</p>
<p>The ringleaders were from the junior class so hopefully, not too many repercussions for the senior class college apps. </p>
<p>I think it’s likely MCPS will implement stricter IT security and require teachers to maintain a separate log of grades outside of the school computer network.</p>
<p>rphmom - how was it?</p>
<p>[Meeting</a> held to discuss grade tampering - wtop.com](<a href=“http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1906863&nid=25]Meeting”>WTOP | Washington’s Top News | DC, MD & VA News, Traffic & Weather)</p>
<p>Sounds frustrating to me. So many “no comments, it’s confidential”.</p>
<p>"The ringleaders were from the junior class so hopefully, not too many repercussions for the senior class college apps. "</p>
<p>Hard to imagine that some seniors weren’t involved, too. Such a big cheating ring would not have affected just one class.</p>
<p>Here is the Post article.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030802044.html?hpid=newswell]washingtonpost.com[/url”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030802044.html?hpid=newswell]washingtonpost.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Even more frustrating. I’m glad the state’s attorney is getting involved since the school officials are so ready to tie their own hands.</p>
<p>“…he has no plans to investigate any other semesters, unless given proof that similar breaches occurred. “We will not chase the wind,” he said.”</p>
<p>That, even though the grade changing had been going on for months before it was discovered!</p>
<p>But note that they only went back and verified last semester’s grades…with reports that this had been happening for some time, is the problem that they CAN’T verify prior grades since there are no hard copies?</p>
<p>There is a security problem when students can steal the log in information for 35 different teachers… </p>
<p>I find it funny that the Post article said the school would not notify colleges, as that would be a red flag. But the story is being chronicled in the Washington Post, and boards like this are talking about it. The cat is out of the bag, so schools that have heard already about the problem AND read his comments may not think so highly about his approach.</p>
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<p>Totalderiv, you need a new group of friends. I strongly believe that karma wins out – they may be able to get away with this right now, but eventually it will come back to bite them (and maybe you) in the butt. They (you?) may be found out, they (you?) may get a higher GPA than deserved, they (you?) may get into a school they shouldn’t have. Eventually, something will bring them (you?) down. I do believe it.</p>