Northstarmom

"COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio school district says it uncovered a cheating scheme so pervasive that it had to cancel graduation ceremonies for its 60 seniors — but will still mail their diplomas.

A senior at Centerburg High School accessed teachers' computers, found tests, printed them and distributed them to classmates, administrators said.

Graduation was canceled because so many seniors either cheated or knew about the cheating but failed to report it, said officials of the Centerburg School District....

Administrators learned Friday that the cheating plot may have involved underclassmen, as well.

Holden said so many students are involved that it was impossible "to separate the wheat from the chaff" in terms of deciding who could graduate. Instead, all students will be mailed their diplomas.....

Some parents angry about the cancellation are organizing an unofficial graduation ceremony.
School cancels graduation for cheaters - Education- msnbc.com

owlice

I wonder if the teachers whose computers were apparently accessible were disciplined.

I work in a secure building -- we have our own police force -- and have a private office with a locking door, and if I leave my computer, I am required to lock it, even if I lock my office door behind me.

In my district, teachers are required to secure their computers -- they must log out of them or lock the keyboard when they are away from them. Some teachers don't, which makes their computers an "attractive nuisance," like a backyard swimming pool is. Just as homeowners are liable for their attractive nuisances, so too should teachers be.

ellemenope

Kids can guess passwords or answers to security questions to get into accounts. Ask Sarah Palin whose personal email account was compromised during the campaign.

This was one of the high achieving schools in the state. It always seems to be those high end schools where you get these kinds of scandals. More pressure to succeed; smarter kids who care enough about grades to bother to cheat.

Push comes to shove--responsibility for cheating comes down to the kids. Teachers need to be reminded to secured their computers, etc., but discipline should be on the kids involved. To cancel graduation is a mighty big step.

blankmind

Obviously not all kids think it's a big prank, and once they have evidence, are willing to alert the school about it. The teachers had suspicions? I wonder what they did about it. Let me take a guess: nothing. This is like deja vu all over again.

I feel very sorry for the non cheating students. I could write a book about how unfairly they get treated in these situations.

bird rock

Sounds like typical bureaucratic laziness and ineptitude. First of all there's no reason for tests to be stored on computers which are connected to the web. There's no way you can be certain that the students aren't a step ahead of you on that.

Canceling the graduation punishes everyone and allows the perps to get off very easy.

They should investigate thoroughly. Everyone found guilty should fail the class, at least. And they should notify colleges. But then the administrators wouldn't have their pristine rankings. They might actually have to do some work next semester.

And you have to wonder about the 99% graduation rate. How many of those kids graduated because the faculty just looked the other way?

soozievt

I also feel sorry for the non-cheating students because one thing in school that I never have liked is when everyone is punished for the acts of a few. Obviously, not everyone cheated as one student alerted the principal.

fiona_

Something similar happened in a local HS here too. I think it's utterly disgraceful that teachers should need to suspect their students and exercise such a high degree of caution, but seems like nowadays that is necessitated.

In the case that I know about, the computer of the teacher was accessed while she was out of the room. I don't know whether I would have turned the class in, if I had heard of the cheating. It's really hard to prove cheating. Although students had "higher-than-average" grades there are numerous methods and the school couldn't have found out easily.

Momwaitingfornew

I always hate when all students are punished for the acts of a few -- although in this case, the school indicated that a significant percentage of the seniors cheated. It's not clear whether the school knows this, however, or just suspects. I feel sorry for the students who didn't cheat and who are being punished because of it.

I lost my eighth grade "graduation" trip because two students stole shoes from a local store and sold them to fifteen or so classmates (out of 75-100 students total.) Something similar happened to my high school graduation trip, although to this day I cannot remember what happened for the administration to cancel it. It probably was a party that got out of control or drug deals. Still, with 370 students in the senior class, I doubt a majority of the students were involved in whatever incident caused the punishment.

oldfort

Something similar happened at our kids' school when our D1 was a senior. A good friend of hers printed a test and sold it to quite a few seniors. My daughter really didn't know anything about it until afterwards. There was a huge witch hunt. They didn't have concrete proof who did it, but most people knew who. The school expelled the student. The student's parents wanted to sue the school. This incident really divided the class.

There is no question students should be punished for cheating. At the same time, I think teachers should also be accountable for not securing their work place. I think every teacher would lock their cars before they go into school to work, why wouldn't they lock their drawers or computer before they leave their desks. As a bank employee, we need to abide by "clean desk policy." Tests are school's property, teachers have obligation to safeguard their employer's assets.

I feel bad for the kids that were not involved with this whole scam.

Momwaitingfornew

I wonder if a required ethics class for freshmen would curb a lot of cheating. Few high school students understand (because of immaturity? peer culture?) that not reporting cheating, or somehow enabling it, is also considered cheating. I know that I knew that other students cheated off my tests (you should have seen the tight row behind me ), and while I didn't help them, I knew why they were there. It wasn't until I got to college and read an honor code that I realized it was my obligation to actually STOP them from it.

Deja

Yes, that 99% graduation rate is certainly suspect, as is just about any other statistics coming out of that school now.

ncmentor

Impossible "to separate the wheat from the chaff" - I think not, what a bunch of lazy adminastrators. - I would work hard to replace every adminastrator up the chain of command who had anything to do with this stupid decision.

So the cheating students don't really get punished (anymore than having their diploma's mailed).

The students who knew - well than having their diploma's mailed may be an appropriate punishment but without knowing all the details of each students knowledge and involvement who knows.

And the totally innocent students are punished for something they had no part in.... Exactly the wrong message you want to be giving anyone...

bluebayou

Well it would be impossible to do a thorough investigation in a couple of days to meet the grad deadline. However, the school should ask the police to do conduct a FULL investigation, and if the real perps can be identified, they should be given zeros on the assignment (or whatever district policy is for cheating and breaking and entering) and their colleges should be alerted.

spideygirl

I am realy glad that someone mentioned enabling. I feel sorry for the kids who had no knowledge whatsoever of the cheating, but those who looked the other way? Not so much.

I believe that with the high number of kids involved in the cheating, there were probably very few in the class who deserve pity for losing their graduation. Even though it is a lot to expect of young people to stop enabling their peers who cheat, drink, use drugs, etc., it is a very important expectation to have.

We need to stop lowering the bar on what we will accept as moral behavior. Young people deserve more from adults, so that they can have a greater chance of having bright futures. Better to experience consequences as a teen, then as a white collar adult criminal.

Erin's Dad

Bird Rock, nowhere does it say the computer was hooked to the internet. There are other ways to hack into systems (as you say students are often ahead of schools on that).

I saw a locally written article on this that stated the investigation is continuing and, once the specifics are known, decisions will be made on failing/graduating, etc. I think this was the right thing to do. You can't go ahead with graduation until you know the real story. The students brought it on themselves.