Another sports scandal: 8 schools faked athletes' grades

First, MCPS lets armed robbers play football at county high schools.

Now we learn that in at least eight county schools, officials illegally changed athletes' poor grades so they would be eligible to play on varsity teams.

Superintendent Jerry Weast sent around a tough-sounding memo on October 18, decreeing that the teams would forfeit the games in which the illegal students played.

MCPS Chief Operating Officer Larry Bowers identified eight schools that illegally changed the grades of 46 athletes. Weast said the athlets would be kicked off the teams and have their poor grades restored.

The Montgomery Blair High School online paper Silver Chips reports, "The schools affected were Bethesda-Chevy Chase, with five ineligible students; Winston Churchill, with two students; Einstein, with 24 students; Quince Orchard, with two students; Walter Johnson, with three students; Watkins Mill, with six students; Wheaton, with three students; and Walt Whitman, with one student."

The Washington Post quotes Weast as saying in the memo, "The review makes it clear that we must look at our processes and work to improve them so that we can avoid a repeat of this situation."

So now we find that, according to MCPS policy, kids who drink a can of beer will be kicked off the team along with the lousy students with fake grades. But armed robbers can still play.