This is where the faux-outrage comes in. The article muddles a number of issues to try to create the false impression of some clandestine plot, but was the “information” intentionally “concealed” from the students? The students could have logged onto their college board portal and seen their score.
As near as I can tell, a current parent is mad because teachers “dropped the certificates unceremoniously on students’ desks” on Nov. 14, and apparently didn’t included enough pomp and circumstance to commemorate the achievement (no "special breakfasts, award ceremonies, YouTube videos, press releases, etc.), while a few past parents are mad because in the past the students were told instead of the parents and the information went to the school sanctioned email. After the outcry from the current parent, the school sent an email to the parents and contacted the schools by Dec. 12, so 
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I don’t know what the numbers are for commended at the school I mentioned because the school doesn’t announce it, include it in its fact sheet, or notify the parents about commended scholars. (About 15% of the last class I checked were NMSF.) I don’t know why it doesn’t make a big deal out of commended status, but I assume it is because frantic, overzealous parents in the midst of the college application process tend to (and want to) believe that such honors have a much great weighted in the admissions process than they actually do. From my perspective, the most difficult job at high performing schools is managing the unreasonably high expectations of parents of high achieving kids. Judging from the oversized reactions to the date the certificates were handed out, parents from TJ are similar.
@hebegebe Your depiction of the interaction between parents and school at private schools is inaccurate.
The idea that not providing the physical certificates until Nov. 14 is “‘theft by the state’” is laughable and preposterous. Faux-outrage.