Five Towns educators reflect on cheating scandal

Three Five Towns education experts consider the still-unfolding SAT cheating scandal, in which stand-ins were paid by students to take the exams for them, to be an outgrowth of society’s overemphasis on testing and the setting of bad examples by people in powerful positions.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice is investigating cases involving current and former students from five Long Island high schools, including Great Neck North, where the scandal began, and new state legislation may be enacted to thwart such cheating. Twenty current and former high school students were arrested for either paying others to take the tests or accepting money to sit for their exams.

Those who were paid to take the tests include graduates of Great Neck North, North Shore Hebrew Academy and Great Neck South High School as well as a student who attended Great Neck North. The five students arrested for paying others to take their places include graduates of Great Neck North and Roslyn High School as well as students at North Shore Hebrew Academy and St. Mary’s High School.

“I think this type of scandal really is reflective not of a problem we have with kids, but a societal problem,” said Gary Schall, superintendent of Lawrence public schools. “Wall Street, government, what kind of examples have adults set for kids? This action by students shows that adults have been poor role models, and this acting without integrity is a reflection of that.”

The pressure to score high score on the college entrance exams in order to get into the best colleges is the primary reason the students gave for paying the test-takers. Though Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum, principal of Davis Renoir Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere, thinks there is an overemphasis on testing in education, the reality is that the tests exist, he said.

A school must create a culture in which students feel comfortable but are accountable for their actions, Kirshenbaum said, adding that schools must have strong policies governing conduct, including cheating.