CHEATING 'RINGS'
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/42091.htm
By MARK BULLIET
April 3, 2005 -- In the latest shortcut on the information highway,
cheating students are dialing up test answers on their cellphones, high-
schoolers openly admitted to The Post.
While Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced last week he will
consider lifting the ban on mobile phones in schools, students said
cellphone cheating is epidemic.
Kids are using smuggled cellphones to send answers to classmates, store
electronic crib notes and even photograph tests and pass them along to
classmates, students re****ted.
Some phone frauds are even selling answers and exam photos, they said.
"People take photos of the test, and they e-mail it to other people who
have the test later that day," said Ewa Maciukiewicz, 18, a Bronx HS of
Science senior.
Two students even showed The Post notes stored in their phones.
Rico Johnson, an 18-year-old senior at Park West HS in Midtown, said he
saw a classmate receive answers for the January state Regents global-
history exam.
The answers came in by text message from a friend taking the same test
at another school. The recipient then distributed the answers by cell
to other students.
"It was not like, 'Let me sneak it behind the teacher,' " Johnson
said. "Every time his phone vibrated, he'd pick it up, look at the
answer and be good with it."
Dominique Lee, 16, said cellphone cheating is an "everyday" occurrence
at Park West, a troubled school with an average SAT score of 766.
"It's more convenient than digging in your book bag and getting
caught," she said. "It's small, and teachers don't think nothing of
it."
But cell cheating is also widespread at the city's elite schools,
students said.
At Bronx Science, students said text-message cheats are common.
"It would be a chain of cellphones," Michael Brechtlein, an 18-year-old
senior, said of chemistry and math Regents taken during his sophomore
year. "One person would pass it to the next person and the next
person."
Todd Dunn, spokesman for the state Education Department, which oversees
Regents exams, was incredulous when told of The Post's findings.
"Bronx Science kids don't need to cheat on Regents exams," he said.
Keith Kalb, a city Department of Education spokesman, said there
were "two confirmed cases of kids being caught cheating" using
cellphones on the January Regents.
Despite the prevalence of cellphone cheating, Schools Chancellor Joel
Klein said last week that he is considering lifting the current
cellphone ban in schools. He said many parents want to have phone
access to their children in emergencies.
The principals union opposes lifting the ban, citing cheating as one of
their concerns.
Additional re****ting by Marsha Kranes and Angela Montefinise
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