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Caride: Forging Student Transcripts Must be Illegal in N.J.

Cites NJ Advance Media Article on Basketball Program

(TRENTON) – Assembly Education Chairwoman Marlene Caride (D-Passaic/Bergen) on Wednesday said she will work on legislation to make it illegal to forge school transcripts in New Jersey.
Caride announced her intent after an NJ Advance Media article found multiple basketball players at Paterson Eastside High School entered the school with transcripts that were incomplete, altered or fraudulent. The transcripts are the latest questions to arise from the high school’s program.
“This is a very concerning and disturbing situation, to say the least,” said Caride (D-Passaic/Bergen). “Transcripts are a valuable tool for measuring student progress and an important academic record. They must be accurate. They should not be gamed to make students eligible to play athletics.
“Purposefully forging a student transcript is fraud,” Caride said. “It needs to have real consequences, and that will be my intent with this legislation.”
Caride said she could not imagine a situation where it would legitimate to forge a student transcript, and said the law clearly needs tweaking no matter the result of the investigation into the Paterson program.
“The real victim of academic fraud perpetrated by adults is always the student,” Caride said. “Without a proper and accurate transcript, the student almost assuredly isn’t getting educated properly, and the emphasis is likely not on the classroom but the basketball court or the playing field. That’s never acceptable.”