Every year, L’Actualite, the province’s most popular french newsmagazine, publishes an extensive ranking of all high schools in Quebec. For the past three years, the College Charlemagne, located in my own borough of Pierrefonds, has garnered the #1 position which is based on results from the annual exams that are organized by the department of education.

Many private colleges make extensive use of these rankings in their marketing activities. Since they are also involved in grading the end-of-year exams, there is the theoretical possibility of conflict of interest.

Unfortunately, Radio-Canada has just reported that the College Charlemagne is now the object of a criminal investigation and suspected of tampering with the final grades of last year’s exam. Isn’t it just lovely? The real victims are the schoolkids whose grades will remain under suspicion even through they had nothing to do with this.

The College has released this press report.