I personally don’t disagree.
Unless the violation was a bit more than a simple mis cite, in real terms. Maybe in its length and breadth. I believe the OP said two pages worth. (?)
They saw the perceived infraction as more of a level three or nearly so, and they walked it back to a modified level two. Frankly, because of the circumstances, the students previous excellence and the standing of a trustee level family, to be quite honest.
@privatebanker I think it’s a solid level 2 and first offense of anything in 12 years at the same institution. The problem is she has successfully written research papers at her school, so we are all scratching our head. This assignment was much longer but she has proven on early work that she knows how to cite and understand what scholarly sources are and are not. Yes, I could go to the head of school and rant but just not my style.
Sounds like she perhaps didn’t structure her time well (I know what that’s like from my own kids, unfortunately 
) which led to inadequate sleep which led to carelessness and sloppiness and just wanting to get it done. It won’t be the first time poor decision-making occurred due to sleep deprivation.
If it is clearly just a level two type. There is no reason for the permanent record or transcript notation.
Perhaps you need to fight your basic nature this time, it’s overkill.
Total re-write in the summer. Reduced grade. Formal notice to file which would be substantive next year if anything else came up (theoretically for school purposes -not expecting anything with your d ) and perhaps some other remedial measure.
However to fall in this category and to complete all of the other steps and still have a permanent inscription is horribly bad practice. It could make a difference even with the explanation. Too many close files to have this be the tie breaker.
Please fight a little, in your own way but fight back.
And by fighting back, I mean a formal conference to hear it all from their perspective first. And have an alternative sentencing proposal in hand. Instead of asking them to lose face give them an out to modify.
Volunteering with younger students or grading papers in the lower school. On top of everything else.
Again, have never seen this on a transcript. It’s part of the freshman Common App. OP, are you certain this hs will do that? Or did they say, "on her academic record?
And just for clarity, would help if things were noted as opinion, when that’s what it is.
As evidenced by PA’s policy, the repercussions aren’t unusual and I seriously doubt the school will bend to pressure from a parent. For good reasons, the follow their policies and try to be consistent. Posters here might think that is overly harsh but it is what it is. What about that student who messes up without the former trustee parent? Is it fair to bend rules for some and not others? Especially in this case where the student will be just fine and will still go to an excellent college?
@lookingforward I spoke to her CC today. She will need to fill out the extra supplement on the CA, “have you ever been suspended, explain why”
So if she pursues a master’s degree or PhD, or changes careers later in life and decides to return to college, this will be what she has to submit? A transcript labeled with “academic misconduct” and a charge of “unintended plagiarism”?
No one asks for a high school transcript for graduate school.
@doschicos Believe it or not, children of trustees are actually at a disadvantage at this school. The administration is overly cautious not to show any type of preferential treatment that you have no voice as a parent as a trustee. I was fine with that, I went off the board due to a two term six year limit.
I can see that, @karen0, which supports my point that it isn’t worth the energy trying to get them to make an exception. Even if we may not all agree with the way this school handles things, one has to respect any school that tries to apply its policies consistently. Doing otherwise leads to unpleasant consequences for the administration including a breakdown in trust.
We don’t actually know if the school is being consistent since we have no way to tell how they have handled similar cases by other students. It is possible that they may be being more severe on OP’s D because of outside factors - it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a former trustee could be the target of some old resentment, for example.
Regardless of consistency, it does seem that the spirit of the school’s discipline borders on the soul-crushing.
The OP wrote: She will need to fill out the extra supplement on the CA, “have you ever been suspended, explain why”
How did this escalate to the level of suspension? Surely that is not the only part of the common app where the student can explain the situation. Categorizing the infraction as a suspension seems even more punitive than it seemed 15 pages ago. It boggles the (non-elite public school) mind.
Perhaps another lesson is that some entities have a “one strike and you’re out” policy, and it may not necessarily be obvious beforehand without reading all of the fine print.
Intervene for your daughter! Don’t mention being on the board if you don’t want to, but for goodness’ sake, help her.
Do you seriously think that the other parents at your daughters’ school wouldn’t intervene? You chose to put her in a very intense school environment; now you have to deal with the consequences, even if you feel there’s enough benefits not to change schools. At an elite, expensive, day school, parents putting pressure on the school is par for the course even when there’s no cause – and you have one.
It doesn’t matter if it’s “not your style.” Sometimes parents have to do things they don’t like to protect their kids. Now’s not the time to take some imaginary high road. Try to be nice to them, obviously, but don’t budge (although I’m not entirely sure I understand your update about the actual situation, it seems like there’s still not enough to warrant plagarism).
The twin situation does make things tough. Don’t try to hide it from the other kids; they’ll understand that you’re trying to help your daughter, and hiding it will only reinforce the idea that she’s done something wrong and should feel bad. Plus, no matter what happens, this is probably a hard time for your daughter emotionally, and she needs her siblings’ support.
Lots of luck to you. How much time is left in the school year? Hopefully you can get it resolved before the year ends.
“Intervene for your daughter! Don’t mention being on the board if you don’t want to, but for goodness’ sake, help her.”
You seriously don’t think that the administration doesn’t know that the mother of the student isn’t a past board member?!
The daughter is going to be just fine and I bet she’ll get into some wonderful colleges.
I think the thing to push for is a strong letter from the college counselor explaining that this is a good student with an otherwise clean disciplinary record, not for a dismissal of the charge. The result of entering into combat with the school is unlikely to be positive.
Private schools usually spell out the consequences of a disciplinary infraction quite clearly in the student handbook. At our school parents and students are required to sign a form saying the child will abide by the honor code. Not having read it is not considered a justifiable excuse.
If this student can explain how she made the mistake while still taking responsibility for it she’ll retain the respect of the people she’ll need to be on her side in the college application process.
Also, although my most recent graduate’s high school is nowhere near as academically intense as they OP’s they take the honor code just as seriously. It’s a boarding school so they don’t suspend kids but a plagiarism charge is considered a level 4 offense. Level 5 is expulsion. Level 4 puts a student on an expulsion contract, meaning that aside from any academic consequences, if they further commit even a relatively minor infraction they’re out.
" I promise there are people equally appalled that you would put your kid in a Calif public school if you did not have to do so."
Ok but CA public schools’ board of education are elected so there’s some accountability, there doesn’t seem to be any with this private school, as someone mentioned earlier, they’re pretty much judge and jury. This garbage (and I’d use a stronger term but this is a family show) would not happen in CA public schools, for sure, probably not in other states either. If you want to say CA public schools are bad go for it, but a primary/secondary source would not result in academic misconduct in high school. If you tried that, you’d be voted out of office for sure. And yes, if you’re in a wealthier part of CA, you’d have a meeting with the principa,l GC and a lawyer present, pretty much saying, drop this charge or show up in court. If you attend a public high school, you have school official accountability and the Constitution on your side, not for private schools.
To me there is something fundamentally wrong at a school that is so inflexible that they feel they MUST discipline a student for this (really? not just dock the grade??), and then turn around and assure the parent that they will write strong letters to colleges saying she really shouldn’t be penalized for this. It is kind of warped.