Social studies teachers Mike Brown, Isaiah Cabal, Greg Wedel and English teacher Steve Krueger are seen together in the aftermath of the identity scandal.

   Last week, after a legendary three-hour show in Madison Square Garden, thousands of screaming fans burst backstage only to discover the true identity of The Grading Curve’s members — a world-famous boy band. According to the latest rumors, they’re none other than teachers Steve Krueger (The Wise), Isiah Cabal (The Rebel), Mike Brown (The Charmer) and Greg Wedel (The Funny).

   “This wasn’t how the public was supposed to find out,” frontman Mike Brown said. “The Grading Curve was meant to come clean with our next album, but now I feel as though we have broken our trust with the student body and disappointed all our fans.”

   The band said they planned to inform the public in hopes of strengthening their connection with the audience. Previously, they wore showstopping wigs, heavy makeup, and bulky, edgy costumes to conceal their identities during concerts and photo-ops.

   “It would have been impossible to achieve the dynamic we wanted with the disguises, so we unanimously decided to reveal ourselves,” drummer Isiah Cabal said. “We originally wanted to avoid our families and us having to be in the limelight constantly. We also liked the thought of being a modern-day KISS, hiding our identities like them at the start. We are just frustrated that it happened before we were fully prepared.”

   Since this discovery, Trinity students have been copying The Grading Curve members’ signatures from class and selling them online on the boy-band autograph black market, as well as robbing the Trinity grille to pay for concert tickets. Students have also attempted to steal recordings of The Grading Curve’s upcoming album — The Wounds of an Educator’s Heart.

   “I was heading back to my classroom and saw two girls on my laptop, trying to steal unreleased tracks off my Soundcloud,” guitarist Greg Wedel said. “I came to learn they weren’t even fans! One of the girls’ mothers had put them up to it.”

   The news shocked the entire school, including Krueger’s daughter, Emma. When the identities came to light, she was the first family member to talk to the thousands of reporters following this story.

   “I had no idea what my father was up to until I went to school the day after the concert and several friends came up to me with questions,” Emma said. “Looking back, I can’t believe I hadn’t pieced it together. I would hear him humming the songs all the time, and he  always had to leave for ‘teacher   conferences.’”

   The Grading Curve’s lyricist and keyboardist, Steve Krueger, is also under  scrutiny after the identity reveal  led to accusations that he  plagiarized students’ poems in the lyrics of their hit single, The Overhead Cranes. This shocking hypocrisy has been taken very seriously by school administrators, parents and students alike.

   “I’ll admit that I had taken some inspiration from my students’ rhetoric, but I always combine that with my own words,” Steve Krueger said. “As an English teacher first and foremost, I would never do such a thing, especially to my students.”

   Many fans have been left questioning what comes next for the band and what these accusations mean for their lyricist’s future.

   “We’ll come back stronger than ever,” Brown said. “Nothing’s confirmed yet, but we also hope to release tracks featuring VoSo and Astra. I’ll just have to sweet-talk the choral director and parents to get their permission.”

   While the news was certainly a shock, fans and students alike are looking forward to this new chapter in The Grading Curve’s history. The College Board is even suggesting that Cabal add the event to AP World History: Modern’s curriculum as a monumental moment in music and education.

   “Although we hadn’t planned it this way, it still has its perks,” Cabal said.   “I can grab food from the grille free of charge, skip faculty meetings or leave work early and no one says a thing. The student’s behavior will die down soon. Honestly, we should have done this way sooner.”