Package of ACT tests from Marietta missing

Fed Ex says a box containing 220 tests taken at Lassiter High School never showed up; the students retook them for free.

If anyone finds a FedEx box mailed from Lassiter High School filled with ACT tests, please holler.

A spokesman for the standardized test company said Monday that 220 tests taken at the school in Marietta on Jan. 6 are missing in the FedEx system. There were two packages sent, but one never showed up at the ACT headquarters in Iowa City.

“It’s a terrible situation. It’s a very unfortunate situation for these students. We’re doing everything we can to locate that package,” spokesman Ed Colby told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday.

He said the test was a make-up test from a December date that was snowed out.

Coming up against college deadline applications, students took the test again on Saturday for free, he said.

Kennesaw State University announced Friday that it has extended its application deadline from March 1 to April 1.

“Kennesaw State is a first choice for many area students, and we hope this small extension helps ease some of the anxiety that this situation has caused,” said Linda Noble, KSU’s interim provost.

Colby said students were refunded for their tests. The regular exam costs $46 and $62.50 with the optional writing portion.

When asked for comment, a FedEx spokesman responded with this statement: “FedEx understands how important these test results are to the students and their families. We are conducting a thorough search for this shipment and continue to work very closely with ACT on this matter.”

Colby said he wasn’t sure if all the students were Cobb County

School District attendees, as each ACT testing center usually pulls from a radius of 30 to 45 miles.

John Stafford, a Cobb schools spokesman, said the district’s only involvement is that the buildings are leased to the ACT to administer the exam and bring their own ACT staff.

The ACT spokesman said there are between 4,000 and 5,000 exam centers on any given test day and that a lost package is a rarity, adding that there was a lost parcel in fall.

“Most of those eventually come back to us,” he said.

If it’s ever found, the exam will be graded and students will be able to use that score in the future.