THE Department of Education has firmly rejected claims by a group of Dundalk parents that up to 80 students were marked too low in last year's Leaving Certificate English examination.
The parents of former students at St Mary's Marist secondary school in Dundalk say they will go to court to force the Department to release their children's scripts for independent assessment. They say 72 of the students received a C3 or a D, and the highest mark awarded was a single B2.
This is said to be contrary to the students' performance in all previous English tests, and in other Leaving Cert subjects. They say these grades are abnormally low and abnormally "bunched".
The students belonged to three classes, taught by experienced teachers working independently of each other.
However, the Department says the parents' claims have been exhaustively examined. Eighteen scripts which were the subject of appeals have been rechecked on three occasions, but were not found to merit an upgrade.
The Department also says the results obtained by students in St Mary's in last year's English exam were similar to the two previous years. In 1995 the school obtained 44 grade Cs or higher, out of 104 students.
However, in a lengthy statement, the Department expresses regret for the delay in communicating the results of a second recheck to the parents. The recheck was carried out last November but the parents were not informed until February. The reasons for the delay are being investigated.
When the results were issued last August, teachers applied for, rechecks on behalf of 18 students, but only one upgrade was awarded. The parents then wrote to the Department to complain.
Last month, the Department's chief inspector and the chief examiner for English rechecked some of the students' papers. The officials visited the school on Thursday to report that there was no case for upgrades.
A spokesman for the parents, Mr Tony Hanna, said the result of this meeting was "highly unsatisfactory".
He added "So far, the Department has been tardy in its response to our complaints they delayed for five months without doing anything. We now want an independent expert outside the system to look at the papers."
The principal of St Mary's, Mr Cecil Hughes, said he felt there a "a problem" with the marks awarded in English. He was awaiting a formal response from the Department to the matters raised.
The Fianna Fail education spokesman, Mr Micheal Martin, yesterday accused the Minister, Ms Breathnach, of "gross incompetence" for failing to deal with the matter sooner. He called for an "overhaul" of appeal procedures and the appointment of an education ombudsman.
The PD spokeswoman, Ms Helen Keogh, said the Price Waterhouse inquiry into the art exam fiasco should be extended to this controversy. "The integrity of the whole exam system is now in doubt," she said.
