High school students forced to retake SATs after their tests flew off a UPS truck

The rumors had been circulating through the hallways of El Paso High School for days: Students had seen test papers strewn across busy Mesa Street on Oct. 28, and the pencil-filled Scantron bubbles were a dead giveaway — these were SAT tests, just like the ones that 315 students had taken at the school in Texas the day before.

“I was driving on Mesa Street back from the gym and all of a sudden, I see like, a bunch of papers just everywhere,” said Freddy Chavez, a senior at El Paso High School. “I really didn’t think much of it until a few days later, when I heard rumors that those are actually #SATs. I connected the dots right away.”

Students were called to a meeting during last period on Wednesday and told the news: the SAT tests they had taken on Oct. 27 would not be scored, because they had flown off a UPS truck that was transporting them. Instead of using their results to finalize their college applications, the students would instead have to take the often-harrowing test again.

#UPS is still conducting an investigation, but was quick to own up to its error. “We have apologized to the school and extend our apologies to the students,” UPS said in a statement. “The driver’s actions in this case are not representative of UPS protocols and methods, and we have addressed this with him. Safely and reliably meeting our service commitments is UPS’s first priority.”