Chapel Hill High breaks cheating ring

CHAPEL HILL -- Chapel Hill High School officials busted a cheating ring this month in which students used a master key to enter teachers' offices at night and, in at least one case, used a camera phone to copy exam answers.

Officials learned of the stolen key Feb. 15 while investigating students for having the answers to a mid-term, Principal Jackie Ellis said in an e-mail message Monday. The key opened most of the school's doors, she said.

The cheating apparently went on for several years, with the key being passed from one year's graduates to the next and with an ever larger circle of students keeping the secret, Ellis told parents in another e-mail last week. "Evidently a large number of students were aware that this was happening and remained silent," she wrote.

Bill Melega, a history teacher, said he heard as many as 30 students were involved. He said the mid-term exam was for an advanced placement government and politics class. He said those implicated are good students and that some of his seniors are now suspended.

"It was pretty shocking, to tell you the truth," Melega said. "I feel pretty close to these seniors. I've taught some of them in three classes."

Student body president Ellie Jesse, 18, said the cheating has upset students and teachers at the school.

"There's a lot of anger right now, especially the senior class," she said. "The faculty feel so betrayed."

Cheaters may have gained an edge in class rankings that help decide college admissions, students said.

"Not only is it not morally or ethically right, it affects everyone else," said Kira Borman, 16, student body vice president. "How you stand with the other kids affects getting into schools. It stops you from maybe getting into the college of your choice."

Chapel Hill High can be a pressure cooker, students said.

"It's ridiculously competitive," said Borman, a junior. "I think [this] shows the people at the top might not just be the smartest people or the best people."

Jesse said 100 or more students could be affected by changes in class ranking.

"It definitely rumored around," she said. "Once they got in trouble there was a lot of finger pointing. I think that's when the whole chain got started, how everyone got caught."

In her e-mail last week, Ellis said she had encouraged teachers to talk with students. "Perhaps if we [teachers/administration] had heard about this sooner, fewer students would have been involved in it and fewer students, teachers, and parents would have been hurt in this whole unfortunate ordeal," Ellis wrote.

Cheating is more widespread than many realize. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching reported last year that two-thirds of high school students cheat on tests, and 90 percent cheat on homework.

A national survey by Rutgers' Management Education Center of 4,500 high school students found that 75 percent of them engage in serious cheating.

Ellis said that Chapel Hill High's security officers and administrators continue to investigate the case.

And all exterior doors are being re-keyed.

(Staff writer Jesse James DeConto contributed to this story.)