Should the students and former students accused of cheating on their SATs face criminal prosecution? Or should this matter, as many believe, have been handled internally by Great Neck North High School with suspensions or expulsions?
This is the first time that cheating on a test, even one as important as the SAT, has been handled as a criminal matter by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. Should the names of persons accused of taking part in this alleged cheating scandal be made public? So far only the name of the former North High student has been revealed – Sam Eshaghoff, 19. Eshaghoff is the son of local attorney and Great Neck Library Board President Janet Esagoff.
The reason given for not revealing the names of the other participants, who allegedly paid Eshagoff up to $2,500 to take the exam for them, is that they are minors. That’s a gray area. They may be minors under state contract law and the law regarding the purchase of alcoholic beverages but under criminal law they became adults on their 16th birthday. All of the defendants can be tried as adults and, as we understand the law, the DA can release the names of all participants who were 16 or older when the test was taken.
So far only Eshaghoff, the only defendant facing felony charges, has been named.
Scott Greenfield, a Manhattan criminal defense lawyer who lives in Nassau County, questioned the decision to treat the cheating as a criminal matter: “Cases of educational integrity don’t end up in the criminal justice system for a reason, and we don’t want them to. Once you end up in that arena, where does it end? Simple Justice. Where do we decide that we want to taint a person for life versus give them a good spanking behind the shed?”
Quite simply, Mr. Greenfield, a “good spanking” is not enough. The students involved allegedly paid serious money to a person who was committing an act of fraud. Their goal was to get an edge over students taking the SATs the old-fashioned way. If this cheating is not taken seriously the value of the SAT, already in doubt, is diminished.
The DA’s office strongly defended the criminal prosecutions: “This case wasn’t about a middle school student cheating on a spelling test; college admissions and thousands of dollars in scholarship money ride on the test results. The real victims are the kids who play by the rules who may be denied admission or financial aid to the college of their choice.”
A guilty verdict doesn’t have to ruin the lives of the defendants. Anyone who was over 16 and under 19 when the tests were taken can ask the court to be treated as a Youthful Offender. This reduces the range of punishments and seals their records giving them protections similar to those enjoyed by juveniles. A conviction, despite what one attorney warned, does not have to “forever exclude the students from obtaining decent jobs.” If they receive the YO status their records will be sealed.
We also don’t believe that people taking the SAT didn’t know that cheating can be seen as a criminal offense. It says so right on the cover. But, even if they read that, as the old saying goes, ignorance of the law is no excuse.
The bottom line is that the high school and the Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the SATs, must show that such cheating is a serious offense and will be dealt with accordingly. This is not the first time that people have been arrested for cheating on an SAT test. And, as painful as the decision probably was, we think the Great Neck School District did the right thing in turning this over to the DA.
It is our hope that students involved can learn from their mistake, take responsibility and begin to rebuild their lives.
A Blank Slate Editorial
