A Langley mom is worried about her son’s schooling after a “tabulation anomaly” has left B.C. students with transcripts that are either incorrect, or late.
Jane Ilott’s son Callum graduated from Walnut Grove Secondary in June with hopes of realizing a nearly decade-long dream of joining the military.
Now, the 18-year-old, who is in Quebec before before heading to Kingston, Ont., is waiting for school transcripts that would secure his admission to the Royal Military College.
“The one thing with the military you need your transcript in hand,” Ilott said.
“If he arrives at the Royal Military College without it in hand, I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen.”
READ MORE: B.C. Grade 12s issued incorrect marks, final exam results in ‘tabulation anomaly’
Ilott had already been stressed out about how late B.C. distributes their school transcripts. She called the education ministry and was told they would only be released on Monday, July 29.
For many students, what the B.C. government is calling a “tabulation anomaly” means that their grades are much lower than they should be, leaving many scrambling to explain these errors to their post-secondary institutions.
Callum’s grades were lower than Ilott expected, but she’s more concerned that the mixup might mean Callum won’t have his transcripts in hand by the time he deploys to Kingston, Ont., for college next weekend.
“He’s waiting to show the Royal Military College that yes, he has passed Grade 12, he has passed these exams. They don’t have these exams in Ontario,” Ilott said.
“I can’t really see that they’re going to be incredibly patient getting his transcript.”
In an email to Black Press Media Wednesday morning, the education ministry said the “the ministry has now resolved the issue with student exam transcripts and the revised transcripts will be posted today.”
But despite that, Ilott is worried.
“It was going to be a stretch before, pretty sure he won’t get the printed copy on time,” she said.
In a statement, the province said they were working to contact post-secondary institutions across Canada. The education ministry did not return a request for comment on if they had contact the Royal Military College, or when students would get their updated hardcopy transcripts.
Callum has been dreaming of joining the military since he was 11, Ilott said.
“If he was delayed by a year? Oh my goodness, I can’t even imagine.”
But although Ilott is up to date on what’s happening with the Grade 12 grades, she’s upset that as the mom of a high school senior, she was never contacted.
Ilott only found out about the problem through a news alert on her husband’s phone.
“The only thing I saw this morning, and that’s because I went looking for it, is that the school board did post something on Twitter,” she said.
“But I have not heard anything from our school. You would think they would have at least contacted the Grade 12 parents… this is huge.”
