this is not a contractual issue as to the semantics of what does “lend” mean. You just stated the academic policy is listed in the syllabus. It does not matter if the class was virtual the policies rate still the same.
No I mean that they have been virtual in regards to her not meeting in person with the teacher and thus she didn’t have any papers she came home with that we’ve had to sign in regards to this policy being read and understood.
As scary as what you said sounds, sadly I do agree. I think the school will stick together and even if anyone involved feels differently, there is an unwritten understanding you don’t go against it. I was a teacher for years, I’ve seen it.
We are not just talking rules of contractual interpretation. Any type of legal interpretation, whether it be in a contract, statute, regulation or policy, including private policies, first goes to the plain meaning of the words used. Better drafted policies where there might be room for ambiguities or potential expansive or restrictive interpretations will often include examples which further set the guardrails. While you can never cover every possible situation, examples will more clearly set expectations. In the absence of examples or references to other related polices which may have their own examples, I think there is a strong case to be made you cannot define “lend” to mean “help”, assist" or even “share” because if the policy were meant to be that expansive, those words should and could have been used.
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Our students and faculty here had a number of documents that had to be agreed to online…no paper copy was used this academic year. That happened in a number of places.
Also, agreeing to things online is not new to this year. As a teacher and parent, there have been things I needed to agree to adhere to online for years.
As an example…I was the guarantor for a lease for one of my kids. The documents were about 50 pages in length with all the rules and regulations of the housing complex. I had to electronically initial each and every item in this. My kid and I were accountable for adhering to everything in these guidelines even though we initialed them electronically…not on a piece of paper.
Reading posts in this thread reveals why it is said:
In a town with one lawyer, the lawyer will starve, but in a town with two lawyers, both will thrive.
In the instant case shared by the OP, it is important to see both students’ work. I suspect that once this is done–or if the two works were presented in this thread–then there would be little need for further discussion.
Presumably, more than one teacher or administrator has reviewed the two submissions and determined that the works were similar enough to constitute a case of plagiarism.
OP’s position as I understand it, is not that the works are not similar, but that her daughter didn’t know that it was wrong to knowingly share her completed work with another who had not yet done the work.
Cheating is cheating; to assist another in cheating is against the rules. This is something inherent in our educational system and typically learned & understood by all in elementary school.
The best use of legal assistance may be to investigate whether others held responsible for cheating or plagiarism for the first time received similar punishment / penalties.
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I don’t know how the disciplinary process works at your school but again, if this was in the workplace a link to the policies would not be enough. There would need to be a demonstration that the employee was not only told/but acknowledged the policies. In our school a handbook of school policies is sent and there needs to be acknowledgment (online or written) by both the parents and the student. So in our school, this acknowledgment is a must.
I just can’t get over the fact that this one grade can lower your D’s overall grade so much. That’s a problem, IMO. It doesn’t make a difference in this situation, of course, because it is what it is. However, it bugs me that there would be so few graded assignments in a semester.
There has been nothing regarding this. A link to the policies in a syllabus is all there is. There wasn’t even a discussion about it.
It is 40% of her grade. It is valued as a “summative” grade. Summative’s are 40% of her grade. There has only been one other summative to which she received a 97 on.
Right, that is not OK. And as others have noted there is usually a standard of progressive discipline that usually includes a warning for the first offense. Exceptions might be a “no tolerance” policy for a gun.
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Can I use that “standard of progressive discipline” in my email to them? I agree.
Your lawyer should be writing the correspondence. Check to see what the policy is for your school/district.
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Yes agree. But at this point we spoke to a lawyer and the school is contacting us tomorrow regarding the appeals process. We were advised to go through the process and file the appeal through the school.
Not all of these statements can be true. If summatives are worth 40% and there was one other summative, then this summative assignment cannot be worth 40%.
Sorry I meant that summative are 40% of her grade
So, how much was this assignment worth?
The assignment was a summative grade. There are 2 summative grades in the system. Summative grades are 40% of her overall grade. We calculated her grade and it takes her from an A to a high C for the marking period. Our school doesn’t use a 10 point grading scale. If you get under an 85 average it is considered a C.
I would not go through the appeals process without a lawyer.
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Ok thank you!! I was trying to follow the protocol through the school which is what their policy says would be the next step if we don’t agree on the discipline.