Principal Kevin Skelly held an open forum with students during lunchtime Feb. 5 to answer their questions and dispel rumors about recent cheating instances at the school. As he spoke, the library audience grew from about 20 to more than 50 attentive students. He stressed taking what has happened and moving forward.

So far, two students have been expelled from the school district and one has been allowed to return to school out of a total of eight students suspended for three separate cheating events. One student's expulsion is still pending. Attendees of the meeting also had questions about a 16-year-old male classmate who was caught breaking into the school and stealing chemicals used for bomb-making.

Grace Hsu, a senior and student body president, said administrators have also been meeting with concerned parents and students individually to answer their questions and address gossip such as students being blacklisted from certain colleges because of SHS's damaged reputation.

Assistant Principal Gail Wasserman said that after a cheating scandal at the school in 1997 where students gained access to answers on the Advanced Placement history exam, college acceptance rates were not affected. Thus far, she said, they have not been impacted by the more recent events.

During student body government meetings, Hsu and the other officers have been talking about how to address the problems and clarify what has happened. Hsu said despite the incidents, she considers the school to be a safe and sheltered place.

"It's pretty unbelievable that someone would take such drastic measures to hurt the school," Hsu said. "But I think at the same time, we're proud of the administration for working to address the situation."

Regarding the student who broke into the chemistry department and was caught stealing bomb-making materials, Hsu said it seemed like such a remote possibility that nobody thought would happen. While cheating problems have happened in the past, Hsu said administrators are quick to address those problems.

"As soon as they heard about these cheating incidents they followed the tip immediately," Hsu said. "They are really stepping up and taking action against this."

Hsu said the incidents haven't hurt her relationships with teachers.

"Generally, I think teachers are pretty worried that their files might be violated," Hsu said. "They are more cautious now, and they have a right to be. The teachers are taking better measures to protect their tests and change their passwords more often."

Skelly said he plans to hold more town hall-type meetings in March to discuss academic integrity issues with students during school.

"We need to maintain a relationship between teachers, staff and students that is positive," Skelly said.

Sophomore Allison Capek, 16, said her teachers have been willing to talk about the problems on campus to the best of their ability, but are not allowed to tell her everything because of confidentiality reasons. The names of students involved in the cheating scandals are not being released because of their ages.

"I was more interested to see what other people were going to ask," she said, as to why she attended the lunch meeting. "It's kind of weird to find out things from the newspapers [rather than from the school administration]."

Until the lunch meeting, Ramy El-Diwany, a senior, said he had only heard reactive responses to the cheating issues, instead of moving forward with solutions to the problems. He said suspending and punishing students will only lead to students trying harder not to get caught. He added that, along with a highly-ranked image and pride in the school, there comes overprotection and pressure to achieve high grades, which he said needs to be reduced.

Skelly asked students to raise their hands if they had talked about the recent events with their parents at home, and the majority of hands in the room immediately shot up. He encouraged those conversations to continue. Speaking as a parent himself, Skelly said he'd gladly give up an A for a C if his child didn't earn the A honestly. He stressed that basking in the glow of high test scores should not always be placed in the highest of importance.

"We have a responsibility to make this place as fair as it can possibly be. There are kids who are working fairly at this school," Skelly said.

Judy Jackson, with the school's teen and family counseling center, said she'll be holding groups to help students better learn to manage stress and develop healthy relationships. For more information or to enroll, call 408.867.3411 ext. 229.