A Boulder teen has been arrested for using his cellphone camera to snag a teacher’s computer password and change math scores for himself and 48 other students.
“He said he was changing grades just enough to ensure that if a student didn’t do well on the final, their grades wouldn’t be impacted,” Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said today.
The 16-year-old Fairview High School student, who wasn’t identified because he is a juvenile, was arrested Wednesday and faces a felony charge for tampering with the grades.
Fairview principal Don Stensrud described the boy as an above-average student who now feels “remorseful.
“He could do better than he has been doing, but he thought this would be a shortcut,” Stensrud said. “I think he was pretty shocked that we caught him.”
The student faces school discipline ranging from suspension to expulsion.
The school estimates it spent $2,178 to trace the changes in the computerized grade book and to restore the academic records, making the act a felony.
“There was at least one other student who asked him to change his grade. Some were aware and some were not aware he was changing their grades,” Huntley said.
He videotaped his math teacher as she logged into the grade book, then used the password to gain access to the records and change the grades.
The school uses a system that allows students and their parents to log on and check grades, so he was able to make the changes from home.
The grades were changed before the holiday break last month. The teacher noticed the changes, reported them to the principal and the school began an investigation.
The school is now telling teachers to make sure no one is over their shoulder with a cellphone when they log onto their computers. They also are being told to change their passwords frequently, use upper- and lower-case characters and numerals in their passwords and to take other precautions to protect their computers.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
