LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling on UPS to track down more than 100 lost AP exams from students at Starpoint High School.
Starpoint Superintendent Dr. Sean Croft said UPS lost 106 AP exams. He said one box, containing juniors' AP U.S. History exams and seniors' AP literature exams, never made it to the College Board for grading.
"We were quite shocked by that information. They told us that four of our boxes that we sent at different times had arrived, however this one was missing," Dr. Croft said during an interview with 7 Eyewitness News Wednesday. "Without those exams, they will not fix a score to a student even though they went through the entire course and the exams were lost. That’s a huge disappointment for our students."
Nearly 50 Starpoint students have now sent a letter to Senator Chuck Schumer (D - NY) asking for help in addressing the situation.
In the letter the students said in part:
We implore you as our U.S. Senator and Majority Leader to demand a meaningful effort from UPS and a much better explanation of what has happened. That box of exams is somewhere, and UPS must find it. This isn't a missing package that can simply be replaced. This failure by UPS has real world consequences for all of us and they should act accordingly. If UPS cannot find the box, then they should be obligated to replace the value of what was in the box. For each student, the exam could be worth 6 credit hours, so at $1000 per credit hour, each student should be given a $6,000 check by UPS.
You can read the full letter below.
Dear Senator Schumer:
We, the undersigned students at Starpoint High School, write to you today to seek your immediate help. In May, we took the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in US History and/or Literature as the culmination of a full school year of study in these rigorous courses. A successful score on an AP exam translates to college credit at most colleges and universities. Given the tremendous expense of college and the issue of college debt, in which you have obviously been deeply involved, these credits mean thousands of dollars to students.
Per the instructions of the College Board, our school district sent these exams via UPS to the College Board for grading. The box of exams never arrived. From what we are told the box disappeared somewhere in New Jersey. UPS appears to be expending very little effort in trying to rectify the situation. This is disgraceful and unfair. That is why we are seeking your help.
The options presented to us by the College Board are a refund of the exam cost (and thus no potential for college credit) or a retake of the exam for a course that we all completed months ago. Neither option is very good and for seniors who have graduated, a test retake is completely impractical. We have been told if the missing box of exams turns up, the exams will be graded. This is what needs to happen.
We implore you as our U.S. Senator and Majority Leader to demand a meaningful effort from UPS and a much better explanation of what has happened. That box of exams is somewhere, and UPS must find it. This isn't a missing package that can simply be replaced. This failure by UPS has real world consequences for all of us and they should act accordingly. If UPS cannot find the box, then they should be obligated to replace the value of what was in the box. For each student, the exam could be worth 6 credit hours, so at $1000 per credit hour, each student should be given a $6,000 check by UPS.
Thank you for your consideration and assistance. We hope you can help us.
On Friday, Sen. Schumer responded, saying he is directly calling on UPS CEO Carol Tomé to, "use any and all means necessary," to locate the missing exams.
“This one is multiple choice— UPS can find the exams or refund the students, plain and simple,” said Senator Schumer. “The UPS needs to work as hard at finding these lost exams as the Starpoint students that worked endless and stressful hours in the midst of a pandemic preparing for them. These hard-working students learned the intricacies of the American revolution, the Civil War, the struggle for civil rights and so much more and they do not deserve the indignity of a half-baked effort to find the missing exams. Instead, UPS must pull out all the stops, find the missing box of exams and honor their work with a fair result.”
You can read the full letter sent to Carol Tomé by Sen. Schumer below.
Dear Ms. Tomé,
I write to bring further attention to a troubling case of missing United Parcel Service (UPS) mail packages, in this case missing Advanced Placement (AP) History and AP Literature exam reports, in Lockport, NY. And to urge the UPS to dedicate all time and resources needed to rectify this situation for aggrieved and understandably anxious Starpoint High School students and their parents. Testing materials being sent to the College Board for scoring, each with the potential of carrying expensive, valuable, and deserved college credits and potentially critical to the students’ college application success, have been lost somewhere at a UPS facility in New Jersey. The UPS must take immediate steps to rectify this situation.
More than 100 examinations taken by students at Starpoint High School, many graduating seniors who dutifully braved pandemic restrictions and spent an entire academic year in preparation, are, at present, nowhere to be found. It is my understanding that, following both the AP United States History and AP English Literature examinations, the proctors and school officials followed all of the instructions laid out by the College Board and sent the exams through UPS to be scored. Now, with no materials to grade, the students who spent countless hours studying for this major exam find themselves with no scores, lacking a key potential enhancement for college acceptance, and no potential for college credit.
Therefore, I am requesting that UPS take any and all measures necessary to track down these exams, which the College Board has stated will be scored upon receipt. Furthermore, if the tests are not found and the scores are not able to be allocated, UPS should reimburse each impacted student for both the testing costs and any demonstrable loss of college credits.
The time and effort required to prepare and sit for an Advanced Placement exam is substantial. Students take on considerable detailed and nuanced learning in the hopes of securing a score that will enhance their ability to achieve admissions to colleges of choice, as well as the possibility of earning college credit – and the possibility that one would work hard to prepare and then be denied a result due to a mistake like this is both unjust and painful. To punish good students because of logistical error at UPS would be unfair and it is my hope that focused work by UPS can rectify the situation. Please let me know how UPS is working with students, their parents and guardians and the school to address this situation. I look forward to your reply.
