Orange County School Follies

Two stories illustrating the brainless bureaucracies running schools here in Orange County:

690 Advanced Placement (AP) exams administered at Trabuco Hills High in Mission Viejo have been thrown out by the College Board.

School officials ignored basic test administration protocols, including not having sufficient proctors and seating students opposite each other at tables. Some students were caught cheating via text messages.

There will be only one opportunity for the students to retake the tests this summer. If a student's family has vacation plans that week -- or if you're leaving for college -- tough luck.

The school owes those students who didn't cheat a whole lot more than the costs of retaking the exams. Taking one of those tests can be an utterly draining experience for high schoolers, who should only need to take each exam once in their high school careers.

(Wednesday: An update on the story. The Register has also published an editorial criticizing the school not only for breaking the testing rules but for hiding the test rejections from parents and students as long as possible: "Not until the ETS repeatedly denied the school's appeals did officials tell parents and students the truth: The school screwed up big time. The school tried to maintain an appearance of normalcy until the repercussions became too large to conceal.")

In San Juan Capistrano, the new district superintendent will be paid just under a million dollars for three years' work. Nice work if you can get it.

This is the same district which has come under fire for building a fancy new administration building while the students were housed in old portables. Obviously this is a district which has its priorities straight...not.

To top things off, after trustees approved the superintendent's contract, a termination clause was added guaranteeing the new superintendent as much as 18 months' pay if he's fired.

The District Attorney's office is investigating the behind-closed-doors contract "modification."

The school district has kept the D.A. busy for the last couple years.

Your tax dollars at work...