Board aplogizes for mishap
By:Jeff Mikalaitis
FLORENCE – When Shirley Hamilton was told her 18-year-old daughter, Laura, would have to take remedial courses her freshman year at Westchester University, she realized something was wrong.
Her daughter had earned straight A’s during both her junior and senior years at Florence High School. She had received just one C during her freshman year.
Ms. Hamilton later discovered the wrong academic transcripts had been mailed to colleges and universities where her daughter had applied.
During the Aug. 28 Florence Board of Education meeting, Ms. Hamilton addressed the board, saying: "I would like to tell you what this school district has done to my daughter." Laura was away at school and was unable to attend the meeting.
Ms. Hamilton’s story drew apologies from board members.
"The board is shocked to hear that," said board member Jaime Fauver.
Interim Superintendent Gerard Steffe assured Ms. Hamilton that he would do what he could to correct the situation.
"I am embarrassed and I have no explanation for what happened," he said.
In July, after conducting some research, Ms. Hamilton discovered an academic transcript error that had occurred when Laura had transferred to Florence High School from the Holy Cross High School in Delran during her sophomore year.
Ms. Hamilton said she had hand delivered her daughter’s freshman year transcripts to Florence High School. She said the error took place at Florence High School and not at Holy Cross.
Due to the error, her daughter was not admitted to honors classes and was admitted to the National Honors Society only a week before school ended, Ms. Hamilton said.
"Because she graduated with second honors she was not eligible for scholarships," she said.
Ms. Hamilton said if Westchester received the wrong transcripts, then Rutgers University and Temple University, where her daughter had also applied, may also have received the wrong transcripts.
She told school board members that in July when she pointed the error out to Florence High School Principal Stephen Falcone, he replied: "Welcome to public school".
After Mr. Steffe had looked into the matter, he said on Aug. 29, he believed the error occurred at Holy Cross.
"The mistake is Holy Cross’ " he said. "I’m not pointing fingers. We did accept the transcript. We had no reason not to."
He said school administrators caught the error and the proper transcript was sent out at the end of Laura’s senior year. Ms. Hamilton said that the wrong transcripts had already been sent by that time.
He said Laura’s transcript showed that she had taken Spanish 1 in her freshman year and in her sophomore year. "You can’t get credit twice," he said. "So we started an investigation."
Mr. Steffe said Laura was given a copy of her transcript in October of her senior year, and she never caught the error.
As a result of the error, Laura was ranked 21st in her class instead of 17th. The error also lowered Laura’s GPA to a 3.8 instead of a 4.0.
He said that Laura was not accepted to the National Honors Society not because of her grades, but for other reasons.
He said the honors society accepts people based on character, leadership, service and scholarship. "She was probably weak in one of these areas," he said.
Mr. Steffe said the error was corrected on school records and he plans to send an explanation to Westchester University.