The school's investigation had suggested that 30 students were involved in the scandal, Hanover High Principal Deb Gillespie told the Valley News, but the school only disciplined those who admitted to taking part. Gillespie said the school lacked evidence because students were unwilling to implicate each other and few adults witnessed the events.
"If we had more information from people who were willing to give us specifics, I think we could have gone farther," Gillespie told the Valley News. "But our choices were to say, 'I'm sorry, your name's on a list, therefore you're guilty,' or to start pitting students against students. It was a difficult situation."
Although the school's administrators spoke with several students named in the police report, the report was not considered sufficient evidence of wrongdoing because students' testimonies contradicted some of its findings, Superintendent of Schools Wayne Gersen told the Valley News. The police report estimated that between 44 and 60 students were involved in the scandal.
Parents of students who face criminal charges said they were frustrated by the small number of students implicated by the school. Jim Kenyon, a parent of one of the accused and a reporter for the Valley News, told the newspaper that the school's findings heightened his sense that those who have been criminally charged are scapegoats.
Hanover High's cheating policy states that first-time offenders will not receive credit for the assignment on which they cheated and will not be allowed to leave campus during school hours for three weeks. Subsequent offenders receive no credit for the class in which cheating occurred and are barred from leaving campus for five weeks.
The scandal allegedly transpired June 13, when a group of students entered the school around 6 p.m. and stole math exams, according to testimony given by Hanover High student Paul Formella. Teachers, suspecting cheating had occurred, sought the assistance of the Hanover Police in investigating the incident on June 19.
Formella, the only student connected to the scandal to have stood trial thus far, was found guilty of criminal liability for the conduct of another, a class B misdemeanor, in November. He is currently appealing the decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
The parents of several students who have been charged could not be reached as of press time.
