Every single senior at Reading High School who walked during this week's graduation went home without a diploma, even the Valedictorian.
The school district withheld diplomas for more than 700 graduating seniors to investigate a computer hacking scheme that changed the grades of 34 students.
Students stole a teacher's password to hack into the online system and raise their grades, Superintendent Thomas Chapman told WFMZ.com. School administrators found out about the scheme the night before graduation, but didn't have time to check every student's account before commencement. Chapman made the controversial decision to pull all diplomas.
"We want to make sure when we give a diploma it's an earned diploma," said Chapman.
"I don't necessarily think they should have held all of the diplomas, because they had a pretty good idea of who the students were who were involved with this," school board member Keith Stamm said.
The cheaters face either summer school or have to repeat their senior year. Seniors who "earned" their diplomas can pick them up Thursday in the school's cafeteria.
