Trabuco Hills Principal "Reassigned" After AP Test Flap

In a follow-up to this post, the principal of a local high school has been removed following a huge mess involving AP test scores at his school:

MISSION VIEJO – Trabuco Hills High School Principal Dan Sullivan, who was blamed by students and parents for the invalidation of 690 Advanced Placement exams at his school earlier this month after his staff failed to follow national testing protocols, has been removed from his post, district officials confirmed today.

Sullivan will become a "principal on special assignment," working out of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District offices, said school board President Suzie Swartz. Retired district administrator Bob Metz, a former high school principal, will serve as interim principal of Trabuco Hills.

"The whole purpose in the shifts that are being made is to provide an opportunity for everyone to continue to move forward," Swartz said. "They already have a very solid team there, and Bob Metz will help them to move forward."

Trabuco Hills parents will be notified of Sullivan's reassignment in a letter that will begin arriving in mailboxes today.

The captain goes down with the ship.

In a related story, some students had tried to sue their way into reinstatement of their test scores, but a judge said "no":

SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge today denied a request from a student group to block the national administrator of the Advanced Placement exams from retesting 375 Mission Viejo high school students.

The student-led Justice for 375 Trabuco Scholars coalition sued the Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service last week over the invalidation of 690 AP exams at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo, accusing the company of not adequately investigating allegations of cheating and improper proctoring on the May exams and demanding a "good faith" investigation.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jamoa Moberly listened to nearly two hours of arguments before making her decision.

"It's been very well-argued by both parties, but there are 266 students who anticipate retaking the tests," Moberly said. "The testing should go forward. It's in the best interest of everyone."

I feel sorry for the kids who were innocent victims in this case, but the school screwed it up so badly that Educational Testing Service really had no choice but to disallow all scores since it couldn't really be proven which student might have benefited from the school's incompetence.

This really should never have gotten to the point of a lawsuit. The case was doomed from the start. Studying would have been more beneficial than suing