TAMPA - A 14-year-old student was arrested on a felony charge Thursday after he was caught with a stolen FCAT booklet.
The discovery came as Leto High School students were changing classes and a school administrator noticed one student walking down a crowded school hallway holding an official FCAT booklet.
"It's got a distinctive cover, and the student was carrying it in an open fashion," said Mark Hart, spokesman for the Hillsborough School District. Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test materials are normally kept under lock and key.
The ninth-grader admitted he stole the booklet, authorities said.
Law enforcement officers normally don't make felony arrests when students are caught cheating on school exams. But the significance of the FCAT test makes this incident a state crime, investigators said.
Hillsborough sheriff's deputies charged the 14-year-old with theft of intellectual property, a felony. He also was charged with burglary and petit theft. The St. Petersburg Times is not naming him because of his age.
"It's an unusual charge," said Lt. Rod Reder, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. "But this is a big test. There's a lot of emphasis on it. It's an official state-certified test of high importance."
The student told school officials that after completing the reading portion of his FCAT Tuesday in the school gym, he did not leave by the same route as other test-takers.
He took a different exit and seized an opportunity to take a copy of the math portion of the FCAT, which would be given the next day.
While the student had the math questions in advance, he did not have the answers. He said he completed the math test after school Tuesday and transferred his answers to the test booklet he was provided Wednesday during an FCAT session at school.
"We've interviewed other students, faculty and staff. It doesn't appear that anyone else got a look at that booklet in advance of Wednesday's math administration," Hart said. He added that the test of the accused student appears to be the only test that will be disqualified.
"However, if we see anything unusual when the test results come in, we may have to take a look at it again," Hart said.
The student was turned over to juvenile justice authorities. He has been suspended for 10 days, and school officials say he could face more disciplinary action, including being referred to an alternative school program or being expelled for the rest of the school year.
Reder, the Sheriff's Office spokesman, wouldn't say whether the juvenile had an arrest record.
All Florida students must pass the 10th grade FCAT in reading and math to graduate from high school. Students get six chances to pass.
Last year, 12,000 Florida students were denied diplomas because they failed one or both exams.
But it's rare for students to be accused of cheating. More often, teachers are accused of coaching students or changing answers.
The Florida Department of Education is now hand-examining student answer sheets to look for erased answers and other marks that may signal cheating.
Sometimes, entire schools come under investigation. An Orlando high school was accused this week of trying to boost its FCAT scores by purging low-performing students from its attendance rolls.
Ironically, the Leto student had little on the line when he took the test this week. As a ninth-grader, he is required to take the FCAT, but he faced no penalty for doing poorly.
"For the ninth-grader, it's a question of whether he was performing at grade level and whether the school was making progress," Hart said.
The FCAT is an academic yardstick the state uses to assign letter grades to a school and to determine which schools deserve to share in millions of dollars in state bonuses.
The Hillsborough School District's office of testing and evaluation will compile a report concerning the Leto incident. The report will be sent to the district's superintendent and its Office of Professional Standards. They will decide whether to take additional action against the student.
Leto principal Daniel Bonilla sent a letter to parents Friday describing the arrest. He explained that no other students' test scores are likely to be affected.
"In addition to being unethical and subject to disciplinary action, cheating on the FCAT is a felony under state law," the letter said.
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