A widespread cheating scheme at Argonaut High School was foiled last week when students were discovered using test answers that could be traced back to a central school computer program. "About a week ago a couple of students were found in the library with these tiny little cheat sheets with the answers on them," said Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Michael Carey. Carey says the conspiracy is believed to extend to at least 16 students. The answers were stolen from a program called Accelerated Reader designed to improve student reading skills. An investigation eventually led back to one student, an 18-year old named A.T. Herrick. When confronted, Herrick admitted to stealing the information on a disc last September. Although the tests students cheated were only ten percent of their overall grade, Carey says swift punishment will be taken. Grades will be lowered, and combined with the senior status of the students, the new GPA’s could keep two or three of them from graduating. The mother of Herrick says that her son has learned a valuable lesson and is embarrassed and apologetic.

The cost of a four-year college education went up again in California on Wednesday, as leaders of the University of California and California State University systems approved their sixth round of student fee hikes in seven years. Under orders from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to reduce campus spending to help make up a statewide budget deficit, the governing boards of the two systems said they had to ask students and their families to shoulder some of the burden come fall. "We are doing everything we can to persuade the governor and the Legislature that additional funding for the CSU ought to be viewed as an investment, not an expense," said CSU Trustee William Hauck. "We are going to continue to fight that fight, but as of today, we are left with not much in the way of alternatives."

Cal State trustees meeting in Long Beach voted 15-3 to raise yearly undergraduate fees by $276, or 10 percent. The increase means that undergraduates will pay an average of $3,797 next year - twice as much as what a CSU school cost in the fall of 2000. University of California board members, meanwhile, tentatively approved a 7.4 percent fee increase that would bring the average annual cost for undergraduates to $8,007 for the 2008-09 academic year, which also represents a doubling in price from the start of the decade. The governor restored about $200 million of the $720 million he originally proposed cutting from UC and CSU's requests. But system officials said that even with the fee hikes they still would have to curtail enrollment, reduce course offerings and scale back campus services. Both CSU and UC administrators said that up to one-third of the money generated by the higher fees would go toward boosting financial aid to offset the potential impact on low-income students.

As many as 50 local teachers and school officials gathered in front of McDonald’s in Martell on Wednesday to voice their opposition to another round of state cuts in education. “The issue isn’t between teachers and the school board, it’s between education and the government,” said Dennis Friis, a teacher at Amador High School. “The rally, which is supported by the Amador County UnifiedSchool District, was planned to coincide with the State recognized “Day of the teacher”. “We’ve been so concerned with cutting taxes and the economy that we need to support the things that society needs,” said Friis. The impetus for the rally came from David Sanchez, President of the California teachers Association. In past years, Sanchez had submitted generalized declarations to fight budget cuts, but this year he personally called each district to organize a rally cry of its own. “People either pay up front for education or pay ten-fold when we encounter the end result,” said Lynn Vasques, a 6th grade teacher in Pioneer and the organizer of the rally. Different teachers have proposed different solutions as to how to solve the cuts in education. According to Vasques, it could be a 1% sales tax hike or reinstating vehicle registration fees. Whatever the outcome, local school officials are keeping a close eye on the latest round of state budget adjustment decisions.

The Amador County Unified School District, or ACUSD, also approved the California Valued Trust Participation Agreement at their meeting Wednesday evening. This agreement is between ACUSD and the non-bargaining ACUSD Administrative unit to provide health and welfare benefits. Board member Terry Porray stated that she is not “opposed to the benefits which the staff obviously deserve, however, the contract is sloppy work on the company’s part, not the staffs.” The final vote was 5-1-1 with Board members Terry Porray dissenting and Chuck Anderson absent.

There was also a brief report from Superintendent Mike Carey regarding the student drug testing policy, specifically speaking to the information requested from the board at the last meeting. He spoke to both the probation department and Bret Harte regarding the accuracy of the tests and found that there have been “very few challenges on drug testing results” He also spoke to the testing company out of Santa, which stand by its products accuracy. The company recommend swab testing as the testing window for most substances be expanded to 48 hours, with the exception of THC, which holds a 12-hour window. Drug testing will be discussed further at the May 12th meeting.  Rosa