Update: The Karen Dillard Mess

A few weeks ago we told you about Karen Dillard, who is being sued by the College Board for administering “live” tests to students enrolled in her $2,000 SAT-prep classes. (She has since filed a countersuit and both sides have agreed to a gag order after some nasty public exchanges.) Jasper High School Principal Michael Novotny, who is not named as a defendant in the suit but was accused of providing an active PSAT test to the Karen Dillard College Prep company where his brother Matthew is executive director, was put on paid leave Feb. 21 pending an investigation by the Plano Independent School District. (The PSAT is a practice SAT exam that is used to determine National Merit distinctions.) Friday, PISD reinstated Novotny, saying he violated no district policies or state laws and that it’s “not really the district’s job to determine whether a test is live or inactive.”

Meanwhile, students who have taken Dillard’s class—and the parents who footed the bill—are no doubt nervous at the possibility of their test scores being thrown out, potentially interfering with college acceptance, scholarships, and the like. So far, the College Board hasn’t made any moves toward doing so, but acknowledges that it has done so in similar past situations and is still a possibility, as any students who were allowed to practice on live tests (knowingly or not) were given an unfair advantage. Developing.