Long Island, NY – Two students at a Great Neck yeshiva are suspected of paying someone smarter to take their SAT tests, according to a ballooning probe that has ensnared 35 kids at five Long Island high schools, sources told The Post.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
North Shore Hebrew Academy HS Principal Dr. Daniel Vitow said officials have subpoenaed the SAT records of two former students, one of whom ended up enrolling at NYU.
He said that because of the small school’s familiarity with its students, he’s certain the surrogates took the exam at another high school — an option he believes makes it easier to pull off impersonations.
“The problem is, the kids can go to any test center,” he told The Post. “The solution is simple — take the SAT in your own school.”
Vitow said a 2010 graduate had recorded a 270-point boost on two sections combined — out of 1600 points possible — in his second crack at the high-stakes exam.
A 2009 graduate who took the exam four times saw his scores rollercoaster from one sitting to the next — and ultimately netted just 90 additional points for his efforts.
“This kid didn’t get his money’s worth,” Vitow quipped. “He deserves a refund.”
He added that he was “clearly disappointed” with the graduates.
The growing probe is targeting students at two other private schools and two public schools, and includes kids suspected of hiring surrogate test-takers for the ACT exam, according to Nassau DA Kathleen Rice’s office.
Students who paid others to take the exams, who took the tests for others, or who furnished the false identification are all expected to be arrested, although officials couldn’t say when.
Seems like Vitow thinks that this is an humorous incident.
This incident is more than an adolescent prank; it’s symbolic of disregard for secular law. The humor of Vitow is incongruous with the chilul Hashem produced by this incident.
This usually tells us who the ganovim will be 15-20 years from now. Watch the headlines!
Don’t learn secular studies to yiddishe kinder and the whole problem won’t exist. In my cheder or yeshivah if a student didn’t know or cheated he wasn’t threatened with arrest he was rather assisted and thought better so he should be able to do it on his own.
At the door in the morning was a rabbi who greeted every1 morning at these so called yiddishe schools they have guards doing that ask yourself why!!!
Dr. Vitow was my principal in high school. Believe me, he doesn’t think it is funny. He is a good man and a great administrator. He is not going to say that his students should be tarred and feathered and spur people to try to ruin their futures. He is on record as saying kids should only be allowed to take the tests at the schools they attend.
Their parents must have known. These kids don’t have part time jobs and depend on parents for every cent. Don’t just blame the kinder!
Where do you think they got the money to pay the person to take the test? Their parents knew and endorsed this.
Vitow is the head of the school but not in any Judaic component. He’s clearly embarrassed.
The kids could have taken the test on Sunday at his school but very likely had someone go take it at a public school on Shabbos.
No one would have known who they were.
The testing agencies will invalidate their scores and invite them to take the tests over again.
They will be expelled from their colleges.
Good start on life.
To #1 and #2 : get a life. He’s not saying the incident is funny, he’s bemused by the fact that crime doesn’t pay, as even the cheaters got swindled.
Cheating on standardized tests like the Regents and the SAT goes back decades. This is nothing new. There’s even been cheating on grad school entrance exams like the LSAT and the MCAT.
My child went to that HS unfortunately. So did some of my child’s friends. Little did we know what we were getting into. The rich and privileged get special treatment. No regents are given; teachers can grade kids however they want depending on specific criterion.Vitow the “headmaster” and this type of comment is typical of his attitude. It’s a Chilul Hashem to call this school a Modern Orthodox HS when Limudei Kodesh is treated as a joke and midot are considered something to which only the weak and less entitled adhere.Cheating was rampant, kids got perfect AP scores after they walked out in the middle of exams. Proctoring during SATs (they had been a test center) was a joke. The administration knew about it and even condoned it; I can say more but I won’t. Look no further than the founder of the school and many of the board of directors for the role models that these kids are taught to admire. The pity is the kids who paid for this are getting off without a penalty. What lesson is THAT going to teach? I heard on CBS that the denial was that it didn’t happen this year but two years ago..as if that is any excuse. This is only the tip of the iceberg. A shandeh, cherpah and bushah.
That’s what happens when the hashkafic focus is college and money. Vda”l
Why is this not complete and pointless lashon hara?
(And by the way, chill out people, let the guy make a small joke.)
My child attended the high school and I feel ploneealmonee’s characterizations are unfair. Academics are at the highest level and each student receives attention and care. Students display derech eretz to one another and feel connected to the faculty and administration. Their is a special ruach to the school. The cheating episode is an embarrasment and goes against the values of any yeshiva. However, that is no excuse to slander the entire school, its students, staff and founders.
I’m not surprised that a top Jewish school like NSHA has students who would also cheat like this and I don’t believe the school deserves any blame. Unfortuntately, many parents today fail to instill the proper middos into their children and, at the same time, push them to achieve goals which are sometimes unrealistic and/or impossible to achieve. American society’s fixation on materialism and making lots of money also drives these young students to sometimes do whatever it takes, ethical or not, to reach that end. Parents must learn to accept their child’s academic abilities and to lovingly encourage them to become whatever they are capable of becoming and to lead lives of honesty and integrity.
My scores went up 300 points the second time I took them – this was 35 years ago without special classes. I was sick the first time. The fact that students can retake the exams should imply that a student can have a bad day, and a sudden improvement is not necessarily indicative of cheating.
I was actually waiting for it to hit the Yeshivas in the area and am surprised that it took so long to come out. What a disappointing group we have become vis a vis white collar crime-which is what this is. These students definitely have from whom to learn how to do these types of things.
It seems that after 12 years of Jewish education, some of these young people have absorbed nothing from their studies. They obviously have missed the point of “morality”. I can’t for the life of me figure out how someone can study Torah for all those years and not have any morals. Their tuition money was completely wasted – they may as well have gone to public school.
anyone remember the regents scandal in NY? Regents were “discovered” by some kids in Brooklyn and sold statewide. I think it was 1973.
Classic Great Neck . . . succeed at all costs . . . no ethics . . . NSHA High School and its “headmaster” (who ever heard of this term) is solely fixated on how many kids they can get into Ivy League schools . . . you reap what you sow . . . and judging by the quotes associated with the school their is no remorse or responsibility on their part. No surprise here . . . this is a morally bankrupt community