School District 203: May 2008 Archives

The plagiarism scandal at Naperville School District 203 deepened Thursday when school officials revealed that the Naperville Central High School valedictorian also plagiarized a speech. At the same time, the district said it was reassigning Principal Jim Caudill, who admitted plagiarizing a former student's speech when he gave an address at a commemorative ceremony last week.

The district asked the student to return the valedictorian medal, and the speech will be removed from the videotape of the graduation ceremony. (School officials said they discovered that "portions of the address bear a strong similarity to another graduation speech published on the Internet.")

The district said it would form a blue-ribbon panel to review policies related to plagiarism, and called for "reason and integrity" instead of emotion. it noted "Caudill has provided 34 years of tireless service to our students and community."

What do you think of the district's response? What will Caudill's new assignment be? (Could he possibly oversee the massive reconstruction of Naperville Central?) What about the graduating valedictorian--is the punishment just, in your opinion?

Naperville Central High School Principal Jim Caudill Tuesday delivered a speech at graduation. Problem was, it wasn't his own. A large portion of the speech was from a 1997 address written by a student. Caudill admits he didn't credit the student or receive permission before or during the speech, though he says he intended to. He's apologized for his mistake.

In this era of making examples out of students who break rules and/or laws, should Caudill face any additional consequences? Do you believe this was an innocent mistake? What do you think should happen to Caudill?

Newsweek is out with a new list of the nation's top 1,300 high schools, and Waubonsie Valley High School is the only one of the four public high schools serving Naperville on this list. In 2007, Neuqua Valley High School -- Indian Prairie School District's other high school -- was No. 607 on this list, but is absent from the initial 2008 rankings.

Congratulations to Waubonsie!! All public education facilities in Naperville are outstanding, and this is further proof.

How important is the ranking to you? Is it just another list? Do Naperville residents place too much emphasis on lists? Why is it that Neuqua, Naperville Central and Naperville North are not on this list?

UPDATE: On Friday, both districts put out e-mails saying they contacted Newsweek and were told that Neuqua Valley, Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools all were omitted from the list by mistake and will be included when an updated list is posted next week.

UPDATE NO. 2: The updated list shows Neuqua Valley ranked No. 910, Naperville North No. 927, Naperville Central No. 1,011 and Waubonsie Valley No. 1,107.

An eighth-grader at Naperville's Jefferson Junior High School was arrested Friday for allegedly bringing a pellet gun to school. Authorities petitioned him as a juvenile, and he'll likely face disciplinary action by the school district as well.

The school district says it must adopt a zero-tolerance policy these days, and understandably so. Should the boy be allowed to graduate, or be expelled? Aside from the school's right to administer discipline, was the arrest necessary? Should a child who breaks a rule by bringing a pellet gun to school face criminal consequences?

Tell us what you think.