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Three of the eight Winston Churchill High School students who allegedly hacked into the school's electronic grading system have withdrawn, and five facing disciplinary action are not attending the school, Principal Joan Benz confirmed at a community meeting Monday.

The meeting was called to address an investigation by Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery County police and the county States' Attorney's office into the grade-changing scheme that officials said affected 35 teachers and 54 students — the eight hackers and 46 other students. The identities of the students and the disciplinary actions being taken against them are being kept private.

"Trusts were broken at Churchill," Benz said at the meeting. "Some of our students made very bad choices. This could have happened elsewhere – but it didn't. It happened right here."

The eight students, all juniors, used a program that can be run using a portable USB drive to record keystrokes and uncover teacher passwords, school system officials have said. The grade changing primarily affected the junior class but spanned all grade levels, according to Dana Tofig, a spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools.

The meeting drew hundreds to Churchill's auditorium and many questions surrounded how the system was breached with apparent ease.

Sherwin Collette, the MCPS chief technology officer, described its security systems as "integrated, interacting walls" that scan for intruders and assess risks and vulnerabilities. However, he compared protecting the system against constantly evolving threats to hunting a moving target.

"The grading system is secure," Collette said. "However, it's not going to be secure the way we want it to be if students, in whom we place a certain amount of trust, violate that trust."

The State's Attorney's office issued a subpoena for documents related to the school's investigation of the incident, Benz said. The school sent nearly 700 letters to parents notifying them that their child's grades were included in the information given to prosecutors, according to a March 3 letter from Benz to parents.

The students stole 13 user identifications and passwords that allowed them to access the accounts of the 35 teachers, Tofig said. Benz said at the meeting that some of the accounts stolen were known as "super-users," with access to other accounts than their own.

Some parents worried how the grade changing would affect their children's admission into college. Benz confirmed that the University of Maryland had called the school to discuss the incident, but that it was her understanding the issue was "blip in the screen" and "they did not think it would make a difference in any admissions decisions."

Dave Ottalini, a University of Maryland spokesman, said the university has reached out to the school again.

Benz said that "many" students at the about 2,000-student school had been approached about the scheme, but "said no." That reinforced concerns about how long the grade-changing had been going on before a teacher came forward Jan. 21 with information that three students had unauthorized grade changes.

Collette had no clear answers. He said that grades had been reviewed for the first semester, but he would not "chase the wind" and examine last year's grades without evidence suggesting those had been affected as well. The 46 affected students had their grades restored back to what they originally were, not to a zero as is the punishment for a student discovered cheating, Benz said. That's because it's unknown right now who changed the grade or whether the students knew about the change, Benz said.

Many parents said they believe the eight students were charging money to change grades, though the administration said they didn't have information to indicate that.

"How do you prove a kid bought a grade?" asked Deborah Brafford, the parent of a senior, who said that she believes money was involved.

Some attribute the incident to a high-pressure academic environment at Churchill in which they say students are pushed to achieve good grades and get into the best colleges.

"It's big time," said 2008 graduate Daniel Milton, a University of Pittsburgh student, when asked whether he felt pressured academically at Churchill.

"I have friends at Princeton, a lot of the Ivy schools," said Milton, 20. "If you don't get an A, you feel like you failed – that's almost the environment," he said.

"I just feel this meeting was a complete waste of time," said Michelle Milton, Daniel Milton's mother, who also has a sophomore at the school. Milton said she left the meeting with lingering questions. "I want to know how widespread this is and what disciplinary actions they're going to take."

Milton also said she also wanted the administration to address the issue of whether money was involved, and worried the scheme would affect her younger son's college admission.

"Two years from now when he's applying to schools, are we going to be labeled as the school that had the cheaters?" Milton said.

Others, including Brafford, praised the administration for conducting the investigation openly.

"I don't think it will be a blemish," Benz said of the scheme. "We have a stellar reputation and we are validating that reputation right now."