Missing AP tests leave dozens of Baltimore County students with "not-so-great options"

BALTIMORE -- As students prepare to head back to school at Western Tech in Baltimore County, a group of them have a decision to make about whether they will retake their Advanced Placement tests that were lost.

"I don't think they're doing the due diligence with these kids," a parent told WJZ.

In July, students learned that 100 AP exam answer sheets had gone missing after being sent to College Board, the company that administers them.

One of those tests belonged to the son of a parent WJZ spoke with who asked us not to reveal his identity.

"You feel like you have no control as a parent and that's something you struggle with when you have kids," the parent said.

Debate over exams

Baltimore County Schools leaders say staff followed all procedures for sending the tests and had receipts that College Board received them.

However, a spokesperson for College Board told WJZ in a statement last month they never got them.

The company also wouldn't comment on whether students would have to retest.

Options given

A parent said his son was contacted by College Board recently, giving him three options: to accept a projected score based on the free-response section of his test, retest, or cancel his exam score.

"If my son didn't pass the test or didn't do well on the test, I would've been fine with that," the parent said. "We would've moved past it. But, to say you lost it and now you're giving us these three not-so-great options really wasn't fair to me."

College Board referred WJZ back to the statement it sent us last month which mentions that most AP testing will be done online starting next May which would prevent tests from being lost.   

Wanting the district to step in

While the parent and son weigh the options, they wish the school district would step in.

"I do wish that the Baltimore County Public School Board and county public schools and Western Tech would've taken a little more of an advocate stance for the kids," the parent said.

A school district spokesperson told WJZ Wednesday that they continue to work with students whose exams were lost.