Whether offered or required, high schools across America are able to administrate and allow students to take the SAT. The Scholastic Assessment Test or the SAT is a standardized test that is used throughout the US as a predictor of what a student is capable of learning in universities or colleges. A lot of effort is put in by both administrators and students, where both have to deal with completing requirements set by the college board and having to prepare for it by either setting it up or by studying. The process is stressful on each side, so imagine if they had to repeat that stress for a second time. In El Paso Texas, Multiple SAT tests from El Paso high school were deemed invalid due to a UPS truck incident, which caused them to spill along the road forcing students and administrators to have to redo it another time.

 Over 250 High School students had their test either lost or destroyed in the accident, and while not much has been added on about this incident,  UPS has yet to address anything about what happened other than an apology and has seemed to move on. It’s unfair how the company responsible for this accident has not done anything to make things right between the college board or anyone at El Paso high school.

“I’d say that I felt pretty good going into in ⎯ I was hoping to land around a 1260 to 1300 this time,” said El Paso senior Ezra Ponzio, who won’t be able to apply to other schools due to this incident. “UPS, just try your best to make it right with us,” Ponzio added on.

Just like Ponzio, many other El Paso students will not be able to start applying to colleges and universities all because they were destroyed in transit. While this may have to do with the test being tampered with after falling out, “That is still time and effort that went into studying and trying to do good on this test,” Ponzio stated. 

In a response by UPS, they have stated “We have apologized to the school and extend our apologies to the students. Our employees are working to recover as many tests as possible, and we will work with the school to resolve the situation. The driver’s actions, in this case, are not representative of UPS protocols and methods, and we are addressing this with him. Safely meeting our service commitments is UPS’s first priority,”.

This apology may seem sincere, but it fails to support its claim of helping the school or the driver’s actions. As of now, only the College Board and El Paso ISD have been reported to be working with the school to find a solution for those who lost their test, which UPS promised in their statement. To add on, the statement seems to be using the driver of the truck as the scapegoat to try and avoid their own accountability. There has been no information about the driver or how the tests even spilled on the road at all, so there is no way to guarantee that the driver is the one at fault. 

  One of the suspected reasons for this happening was how UPS sent out the tests for delivery which caused it to be less secure than how it should’ve been.

  “Why the tests were sent in the manner that they were is very disturbing. I would hope that the district would have a more secure method of getting those tests secured and delivered to their destination,’ said Norma De la Rosa, the president of the El Paso teachers association.

This may have not caused the spill, the way UPS transmitted these tests could have been why so many of these tests were invalidated and shows how UPS is avoiding blame. 

El Paso high school students will be able to retake the test on Dec. 10th and with Practice SAT scores releasing soon on Dec. 5th, it would be infuriating to find out that your test would be invalidated due to a factor out of your control. UPS has yet to update anyone on how they are supporting the students or the college board from their mistake. When you truly look at it, this situation has shown how disreputable the company can be and how it should discourage other big organizations from working with them.