Source: United States Senator for New York Charles E Schumer
Starpoint High School Students Spent Whole Year During Pandemic Preparing For Challenging AP Exams, Only For UPS To Lose The Exams; Now, Exams Have Been Located And Await Evaluation by College Board
Schumer Celebrates With Starpoint Students; Found AP Exams Means Students Can Receive College Credits And Boost College Admissions Applications
Schumer: Bubble In Success! Starpoint AP Exams Are Found!
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today announced that the over 100 lost Advanced Placement exams from Starpoint High School in Lockport, NY have been located by UPS and are now on their way to be scored by Board. After receiving a letter from Starpoint High School students, Schumer called directly on UPS CEO, Carol B. Tomé, last month to use all available resources. The senator also hosted a video call last month with students to assure them of his efforts to help locate their tests.
“I loved working directly with the Starpoint High School students and administration to find the AP tests they studied long and hard for,” said Senator Schumer. “I am proud to announce that the tests have been found and the Starpoint students are over the moon – and I join them in their excitement! UPS will get no demerits for handing in these exams late and relieving the anxiety of these students who will now get the results they worked so hard for.”
Senator Schumer’s original letter to UPS CEO Tomé appears below:
Dear Ms. Tomé,
I write to bring further attention to a troubling case of missing United Parcel Service (UPS) mail packages, in this case missing Advanced Placement (AP) History and AP Literature exam reports, in Lockport, NY. And to urge the UPS to dedicate all time and resources needed to rectify this situation for aggrieved and understandably anxious Starpoint High School students and their parents. Testing materials being sent to the College Board for scoring, each with the potential of carrying expensive, valuable, and deserved college credits and potentially critical to the students’ college application success, have been lost somewhere at a UPS facility in New Jersey. The UPS must take immediate steps to rectify this situation.
More than 100 examinations taken by students at Starpoint High School, many graduating seniors who dutifully braved pandemic restrictions and spent an entire academic year in preparation, are, at present, nowhere to be found. It is my understanding that, following both the AP United States History and AP English Literature examinations, the proctors and school officials followed all of the instructions laid out by the College Board and sent the exams through UPS to be scored. Now, with no materials to grade, the students who spent countless hours studying for this major exam find themselves with no scores, lacking a key potential enhancement for college acceptance, and no potential for college credit.
Therefore, I am requesting that UPS take any and all measures necessary to track down these exams, which the College Board has stated will be scored upon receipt. Furthermore, if the tests are not found and the scores are not able to be allocated, UPS should reimburse each impacted student for both the testing costs and any demonstrable loss of college credits.
The time and effort required to prepare and sit for an Advanced Placement exam is substantial. Students take on considerable detailed and nuanced learning in the hopes of securing a score that will enhance their ability to achieve admissions to colleges of choice, as well as the possibility of earning college credit – and the possibility that one would work hard to prepare and then be denied a result due to a mistake like this is both unjust and painful. To punish good students because of logistical error at UPS would be unfair and it is my hope that focused work by UPS can rectify the situation. Please let me know how UPS is working with students, their parents and guardians and the school to address this situation. I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
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