Policy and Consequences
The school handbook defines a specific consequence continuum that administration follows when a student is caught cheating
March 11, 2020
In the student handbook the school defines academic dishonesty as “cheating, plagiarism, obtaining an unfair advantage and aiding and abetting cheating” on assignments and examinations. While teachers often deal with cases of academic misconduct on their own, according to the student handbook, the highest consequence students can receive is an “in-school or out-of-school suspension and/or loss of participation in extracurricular activities.”
If a student is caught cheating and administration is notified, the student will face a standard consequence depending on the severity of their offense. If the student is caught cheating again, administration follows a consequence continuum to determine the student’s punishment, according to Waldeck.
“A student who engages in any form of academic misconduct will forfeit credit for the work in question and may be subjected to additional disciplinary measures,” Waldeck said. “You will get a zero…and after that, if the behavior continues or if you were also dishonest with us, we may issue further consequences.”
Cheating is inevitable, so I really think that [teachers] should work to not just prevent cheating…but make sure everyone understands the concepts so cheating can be nipped at the start instead of at the end. — anonymous senior female
Anonymous senior female thinks that the policy of giving students a zero for assignments that they’ve cheated on is excessive, as it will hurt their grade significantly and prevent them from obtaining a reasonable grade in the class.
“I think the policy is way too harsh because if someone gets a zero on a highly weighted test, which they probably cheated on because they were scared it was going to tank their grade, then giving them a zero can possibly…ruin their GPA,” the female said. “That will affect them later in life when they apply to college, and I just think that’s ridiculous.”
While administration follows the guidelines set in the student handbook, some teachers report cases of cheating depending on the circumstances. Even though Sides reports major incidents of cheating to administration, such as on a test or a final, she believes that just because a student cheats, it shouldn’t reflect their capabilities.
“Obviously there should be consequences, but…you don’t want their grade to be two grades below what it should be due to what they’re capable of just because they cheated,” Sides said. “I want their grades to reflect what they actually know, not the fact that they cheated. It’s just always so hard because there’s no right answer.”
Waldeck hopes the policy for cheating will help push students to work for their grade.
“It’s our hope that the consequences deter the behavior and students…accept the grade they earn based on how hard they work,” Waldeck said.
Besides giving students consequences to deter cheating, the anonymous junior female believes that teachers should also focus on making sure content is understandable.
“Cheating is inevitable, so I really think that [teachers] should work to not just prevent cheating…but make sure everyone understands the concepts so cheating can be nipped at the start instead of at the end.”