Tucson High School administrators are investigating 50 students accused of tampering with grades.
Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman Stefanie Boe said it's unclear how many of the students, if any, are seniors in danger of graduating.
"About 50 students are under investigation for changing grades," Boe said via email. "We are still determining how many are seniors and won’t graduate until they make the class up over the summer. The investigation found that a few students had learned the teacher’s password."
A student or group of students gained access to teacher grading software and changed the grades.
TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez told KGUN9, ABC15's sister station in Tucson, a teacher noticed grades being changed at the end of last week, and eventually alerted the principal.
Sanchez said the students were able to learn the teachers password by watching her keyboard.
The mastermind behind the plan changed his grade and other students paid to get their grades changed.
According to Sanchez, this has gone on for a while. The amount charged to change grades ran between $50 and $150 dollars per semester.
Most of the students involved were seniors, who Sanchez says were just a credit away from graduating. Now because of this incident they will not be able to walk at graduation ceremonies.
The seniors involved must take the course over again this summer and will be able to graduate once the course is completed.
As for juniors, the superintendent could not elaborate on consequences, but they will also need to make up the course work.
