Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Student's SAT Tests Quarantined in New Jersey Post Office

Aired November 15, 2001 - 06:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: So have you noticed unusual delays in your mail service recently? If you have, chances are good that you are blaming it on anthrax. Well most of the time the delay is just a minor annoyance, but as CNN's James Hattori reports, it has turned into a major headache for some San Francisco students.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About half the seniors at San Francisco's Saint Ignatius College Prep are getting an incomplete, not in class, on their university applications.

ROB OLSEN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I think it's pretty jacked up because you know I studied for my SATs, I did pretty well, and I have no idea what my score is.

HATTORI: Answer sheets for students who took the Scholastic Aptitude or SAT test here October 13 never made it to College Board headquarters in New Jersey for scoring. They're apparently delayed at two New Jersey post offices, including one where anthrax contaminated letters were postmarked on the way to Senator Tom Daschle, NBC and the "New York Post." The building has been closed almost four weeks with a million pieces of mail backed up inside.

ANDREW DWORAK, SCHOOL COUNSELOR: Parents started calling on November 1 and found that there were no scores available.

ERIL DELOSANGELES, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: It's just SAT scores, and I just want to know what they are. I didn't think there would be like a problem with anthrax or anything.

HATTORI: The College Board says of 550,000 students who took the test on October 18, 7,800 are being delayed. And while the board is encouraging universities to cut them some slack, for some like Joe Boswell it means no chance of winning early admission to the college of their choice.

JOE BOSWELL, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: It's just sort of unfortunate that the whole post office situation is going on because it messes things up for a lot of students. So it's definitely frustrating but there's nothing really we can do about it.

HATTORI (on camera): Depending on if and when the postal service releases the quarantined tests, thousands of students may have to retake their SATs. For them, a real world lesson in life post- September 11.

James Hattori, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com