Published: May 08, 2008 08:46 am         

NEW - Education Department probes test-breach allegations

HARRISBURG — The state Department of Education is investigating a possible security breach surrounding Central Cambria High School and standardized tests given each year to students.

Department press secretary Michael Race said Wednesday, “We have received a formal complaint. We are, as we do with all such complaints, investigating that. Beyond that, there’s really nothing else I can tell you at this time.”

High school Principal Ken Bussard is suspected of allowing the test fall into the wrong hands and faces a week’s suspension without pay.

The tests are shipped by UPS to schools around the state and are supposed to be kept secure until they are administered a few weeks later.

Race said the boxes are shipped with package tracking, so the department knows who signed for them and when.

Central Cambria School District officials have stressed that at no time did students receive answers to the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests.

     

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