Posted on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008

Chapel Hill High breaks cheating ring

By Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove and Mark Schultz

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.