I understand all of this. BUT in an essay or in an interview you can not blame the teacher/classroom circumstances for the 3. Even if every fiber of your being wants to write about this or tell an interviewer about it, don’t.
I agree with others who say to not report the 3 to highly rejective schools. They will not assume you had a low score, plenty of students don’t take the tests so obviously have no score to report. Report the score to schools that give credit for the 3.