Earlier this week the freshman class was hit with an unexpected shutdown of the FCAT exams. The Pearson server shut down on Tuesday, April 22. Testing coordinator Mike Drake was a nervous wreck as he was faced with issue of what to do with the freshman.

“I first had notice that the shut down occurred in Volusia and Seminole county,” Drake said. “Later on I was informed that Brevard county might become impacted as well.”

In order to make up for lost time, Drake had to push the afternoon session back a day and double-up on sessions the next day. The entire schedule should be back to 100 percent by Tuesday. Many of the freshman were outraged with the shutdown.

“I thought it was a bit ridiculous that the entire server shutdown,” freshman Keegan Schauman said. “I believe that if they want to move all testing to computers, then they should make the testing more efficient.”

Students also have suspicions that the shutdown was caused by the fact that Pearson’s contract with the state is up after this year. The state does not have as much leverage with Pearson anymore, since there is no further contract.

“I think that the people at Pearson are upset with the fact that many jobs were lost,” freshman Mary Billhartz said. “Some of the workers could have purposely messed with the server since they are upset.”