BY GRETCHEN KEISER

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Six Marist students have withdrawn from the school and 51 others have received zero exam grades and school demerits for involvement in cheating at the private Catholic school.

The investigation into the theft of exams, which originally covered sophomores, juniors and seniors taking physics, chemistry and a peace and justice religion course, led to the separate discovery that two freshmen boys had stolen an English exam from a classroom during the school day, headmaster Michael Maher said March 24.

The two freshmen withdrew from Marist prior to a formal disciplinary meeting with Maher and Marist's president and campus pastor.

Four juniors withdrew from the school as a result of the original incident, Maher said at a press conference disclosing the results of the school's investigation.

Two of the juniors used a stolen key to gain access to faculty areas where the exams in physics, chemistry and religion were kept, Maher said. Two other juniors, who received copies of a stolen exam, were already on disciplinary probation at the school and the additional 10 school demerits for this infraction put them beyond the maximum allowed Marist students.

The 51 other students turned themselves in for cheating on one or more of the stolen exams after they were encouraged to come forward voluntarily. Applying guidelines in the school handbook, the 51 received a zero grade for any exam on which they cheated and 10 demerits. Marist students with 20 demerits or more in a given school year are on disciplinary probation and restricted from certain activities and aspects of school life. Additional demerits while on probation are grounds for dismissal and the school indicated some students will remain in jeopardy of dismissal for their remaining time at Marist.

All other students who took the physics, chemistry and peace and justice exams advised the school in writing that they did not cheat. Marist gave them the option of accepting the grade they had prior to the exam or taking a new exam, Maher said, preventing anyone from benefiting from the tainted exam process. The parents of the affected students also endorsed the forms and were invited to school meetings, the headmaster said.

Most of the 51 are juniors, Maher said. Physics is a senior course, while chemistry is taught to juniors and sophomores and peace and justice is a required course for juniors.

Marist is still looking into the consequences of the stolen freshman English exam, Maher said. Eighty-eight students were taking the course in which the exam was given, the headmaster indicated, but as of March 24 the school was still investigating how many may have known exam questions in advance of the test.

As was done with upperclassmen, the freshmen are being encouraged to come forward voluntarily if they cheated on the exam, Maher said. A meeting with parents of affected students was also held.

At a press conference the headmaster pointed out that because of its mission Marist does not automatically expel students for cheating on an exam.

"Our mission is not to remove students who make mistakes," Maher said. "It is to form character so our students become capable of behaving with integrity throughout life."

Although the inquiry now impacts 50 to 60 Marist students, Maher said he believes the incident "began small. It was a handful of students involved. It grew from that point."

Some students knew exam questions a day or more before the exam, he said, while others found out the morning of an exam.

"Virtually every student who has admitted involvement has been apologetic," the headmaster said.