Not only did Sue Sedlazek hit the nail on its head in her June 8 letter to the editor with respect to the so-called interactive white boards that the School Board has been trying (heretofore unsuccessfully) to palm off on the teachers, students and taxpayers of Loudoun County for years, I was glad to see that she is also fighting the good fight on the refunding of Advanced Placement testing fees.

The School Board feels it dodged the Attorney General’s January 2011 bullet because the Attorney General focused on Fairfax County. Loudoun unilaterally declared the fees chargeable because the tests are “optional,” as Ms. Sedlazek points out. The School Board’s attempted cop-out was dealt a blow, however, by an April 19 follow-up letter from the AG’s Office that said in no uncertain terms:

“…the local school board cannot charge a fee for taking the advanced placement [AP] test when the student has taken the advanced placement course and taking the test is a condition for receiving an increase in the student’s grade point average.”

With that statement, the AG’s opinions counsel, Stephen R. McCullough, in response to an inquiry from state Del. Tag Greason (R-northeastern Loudoun), basically pulled the rug out from under the obfuscating Loudoun County School Board, at least on the issue of AP testing fees.

McCullough went on to reference the AG’s January 2011 official advisory opinion, but noted “The AP test is not mandatory for course credit. The AP test is necessary, however, for a student to achieve a higher grade point average. Therefore, it is closely and directly tied to a course taken by the student at the school.”

McCullough finally noted that “No statute authorizes a local school board to impose fees for the taking of tests.”

Based on the April 19 letter from the AG’s office, I formally requested from Broad Run High School a refund of all AP test fees charged to my family. My request, along with a copy of the April 19 letter, was forwarded by Broad Run to the Director of High School Education, David A. Spage. So far, no word from Spage. Perhaps Spage is waiting for the June 18 graduation ceremonies and hopefully thinking the subject will go away. It will not, Spage and Dr. Edgar Hatrick. I hate to think that it might take an intervention by the courts – and additional expenditures by Loudoun County—to get Loudoun County Schools to do the right thing on this issue. After all, given their “found” money, it’s not really that great of a hit.

W. Randall Rawson

Ashburn, Va