accusations without proof
cheating
innocent until proven guilty
lack of communication
student
teacher
Found guilty of cheating -- and she didn't
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
Canada
March 5, 2013 10:05am CST
I learned recently that my niece was accused of cheating on a test at high school. She is an honor student, a smart girl, and I was shocked because I really don't believe she'd ever cheat. Apparently, her teacher called her, and the girl that sat beside her during the test, into the hallway and told them they had cheated. She said their answers were too similar and they had many of the same mistakes. She told them the average grade would have been a 78% and that she was splitting that grade in half and they would each fail with a 39%, end of story.
Well, it was also end of term and their report cards were sent home. My sister read my niece's report and in the comment section for that subject, the teacher had written "Found guilty of cheating on exam." That was the FIRST time my sister knew anything about it and it was ON the report card. She hit the roof and started trying to contact the school.
She and her husband got an appointment with the Vice-Principal and they were told, "Well, the teacher says they cheated so they must have cheated." How frustrating!! They also asked the VP why they, as parents, were not contacted about the situation when it happened and he had no answer. My brother-in-law works for the school board and they even operate out of offices located in the high school! It would have been easy to contact him immediately when it happened.
Long story short, it turns out that the other girl later went to the teacher's office and confessed that she had cheated off my niece's paper. My niece was never even aware it happened until she was already "found guilty." My sister has stated that she wants an apology from the teacher and she also wants a new report card issued that removes the cheating comment. She also said, in future, she expects to be contacted if something that serious happens with her child.
Has something ever happened with or to your child at school and they didn't even inform you? Or have you ever come up against "the school system" that just tells you "what's done is done" and there's nothing they can do to help you?
3 people like this
11 responses
@celticeagle (168126)
• Boise, Idaho
5 Mar 13
My grandson is in an Excell class which like a special education class because of his ODD. His teach quite often will take objects he is fiddling with(water bottle, tie, etc.) so he will concentrate and sometimes as leverage to get him to do his work. This makes him very upset. I wonder why the teacher in your neices situation didn't let the parents know about this cheating. I have been very lucky to have some very good teachers in my daughters and grandkids school experience. In my grandsons case they have a tablet that is sent home daily with comments from his teacher and himself about his days work and the parent then reads it and signs it to show she has read it. It really helps to keep an open communication between the teacher and parent. This would have been an excellent opportunity for your neices teacher to tell her parents of this accusation. I hope she got her usual grade for that exam.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
6 Mar 13
My niece is in the IB program at her high school and I know that they do place a lot of personal responsibility on the students... but that certainly doesn't excuse communication from taking place, especially when there is a problem that arises 
I think the tablet method you describe is a good one. I know one of my daughters had a similar structure when she was in grade school. At the high school, they push for email communication between parents and teachers because it's "most efficient"... but then it's like pulling teeth to get some teachers to respond. My sister tried email immediately, and directly to the teacher, when she learned of the cheating situation and she received no replies to repeated attempts. She ended up having to phone the school and making an appointment to see the Vice-Principal to get any kind of feedback rolling. 
I don't know yet if my niece got her rightful grade but I'll be finding out soon.
I think the tablet method you describe is a good one. I know one of my daughters had a similar structure when she was in grade school. At the high school, they push for email communication between parents and teachers because it's "most efficient"... but then it's like pulling teeth to get some teachers to respond. My sister tried email immediately, and directly to the teacher, when she learned of the cheating situation and she received no replies to repeated attempts. She ended up having to phone the school and making an appointment to see the Vice-Principal to get any kind of feedback rolling. I don't know yet if my niece got her rightful grade but I'll be finding out soon.1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
8 Mar 13
There are a lot of great teachers in the high school but there are a few that just seem to want to function in their own world, without communicating to parents or even other faculty and, as we would all think, that just doesn't work. I haven't heard back from my sister yet in regards to her actual grade but I know my sister will see it through until the end. I'm supposed to have breakfast with her soon so I'll be expecting to get the whole story!
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (168126)
• Boise, Idaho
7 Mar 13
I always tell people to document everything they did and responses they did or didn't get. When I am upset I tend not to always remember things accurately so this helps. I think the system I spoke of is just in the grade school. The teacher should have responded to the email. I am certainly saddened to hear of such occurences in other school districts because I am so lucky to have such good schools and teachers in my community. I hope your niece got her rightful grade, if not I hope her parents and her fight to make it so sense she did nothing wrong.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 Mar 13
Nothing quite like this.. but yes I've had some problems with the school before. When my 6 year old was in preschool, he never got off the bus at school and was driven back to the bus garage. They found him on the bus there and brought him back to school. He was only about 10 minutes late. But I found out about it when my son got home and told me he'd gone to the bus garage which is located at the middle school.. he said he went to his big brother's school. It took me awhile to figure out why.. I thought perhaps a field trip or something. Eventually I learned from him he was alone on the bus when he went there.. so I called the school to get some answers. The transportation lady acted like it was no big deal.. because he was only 10 minutes late. True I was thankful he didn't sit on the bus all day and not discovered.. but the point is they made a mistake and I wasn't notified. The teacher never knew about it either.
From that day on I drove my son to school myself.. and if he had to take the bus for whatever reason I contacted the teacher to make sure she would watch for him.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
5 Mar 13
Oh my gosh! 
Your poor son... that must have been a scary experience for a pre-school aged child, no matter how many or few minutes he was alone! I was always under the impression that bus drivers are supposed to check their buses front to back at the end of their run (at least here that's what they say). Yet, in a rural community where I used to live, I remember a day where everyone was in a panic because a little girl had not arrived home from school. Phone calls were frantically circulating and at least a couple of children said they remembered seeing her on the bus. The bus ride out there is really long for a lot of kids... and when someone thought to go to the bus garage and check the bus, they found the little girl asleep on one of the very back seats!
I don't blame you for driving your son after that episode... I am quite sure I'd do the same! And, for someone in the transportation area to act like it was nothing, is terrible.
Your poor son... that must have been a scary experience for a pre-school aged child, no matter how many or few minutes he was alone! I was always under the impression that bus drivers are supposed to check their buses front to back at the end of their run (at least here that's what they say). Yet, in a rural community where I used to live, I remember a day where everyone was in a panic because a little girl had not arrived home from school. Phone calls were frantically circulating and at least a couple of children said they remembered seeing her on the bus. The bus ride out there is really long for a lot of kids... and when someone thought to go to the bus garage and check the bus, they found the little girl asleep on one of the very back seats!
I don't blame you for driving your son after that episode... I am quite sure I'd do the same! And, for someone in the transportation area to act like it was nothing, is terrible.@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 Mar 13
They check the busses when they return to the garage. I think they should do it at the school, and I fought the transportation department on this.. but they disagreed and felt doing it at the garage is good enough.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
5 Mar 13
For the record, I agree with you. They should check the busses at the school. They need to be sure every child has safely left the bus and entered the school or playground, whatever follows the policies.
Even in smaller ways, kids are notorious for leaving things on the bus. If they did a sweep of the bus before leaving the school, items could be taken to the office to be claimed instead of incurring all the rigamarole to find them after the bus is already at the garage.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
6 Mar 13
That is absolutely ridiculous! Your sister should have an apology and your niece should get one from the other student, publicly in an assembly, in front of the entire school. I don't have kids, but I've heard of stuff like this happening before.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
8 Mar 13
It IS ridiculous, Canellita, I agree. Normally, the teachers in the high school here are quite good but this teacher is clearly not one of them. Also, my niece is in the IB program, where the students are held to a somewhat higher standard... I'm thinking the teachers should be, too! I haven't heard what has happened yet, in terms of apologies or her final grade on the test, but I'm expecting to meet up with my sister soon and I know she'll give me all the details.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
9 Mar 13
You are absolutely right about that! It is a particular pet peeve of mine that the standards seem to have become so lax in recent years. It really does the kids a disservice in a situation like that.
1 person likes this
@Aja103654 (5644)
• Philippines
9 Mar 13
Teachers can be so dumb and unreasonable. I was suspected of cheating when I really wasn't for not checking the blank answers of a classmates paper. I just didn't want to dirty the paper that is all and then the teacher accused me of cheating. he threatened to send us to the dean if we didn't confess. Confess something we did not do in the first place. how absurd. It was annoying as hell.
I expected your niece is the smart girl. Smart people don't need to cheat. It's obvious the other student was copying.
If they cheated, I believe they should retake the exam separately instead of splitting the dang grade. Stupid teacher.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
10 Mar 13
My older daughter and I were discussing what had happened to my niece. My daughter is in university and she said that the students often sit very close together, as well, because there are so many of them in a class or lecture hall. She said that her professors often have 2 or 3 different versions of each exam so, when the papers are distributed, students do not have the same exam as the person(s) sitting beside them. She questioned why my niece's teacher cannot do the same. I think it's a very valid suggestion and a way of avoiding the cheating issue (or impulse to cheat) going forward.
@Aja103654 (5644)
• Philippines
12 Mar 13
That's brilliant. It would definitely keep the students more alert! It's quite a simple and effective solution. Our professor did that years ago, he mixed up the question orders, so he can tell who is cheating and who isn't.
1 person likes this
@doroffee (4222)
• Hungary
5 Mar 13
Oh, that is so the same in our education system. Some teachers are so stupid, that if someone cheats from another one, they would give both of them a fail grade. It's so stupid. It's not fair to punish the one who actually studies for the test and took her task seriously. I mean, some teachers think that the best student is that who, besides writing the test, pays attention to who cheats from them and tell them to eff off? That's pathetic and kind of teaching the kids how to turn each other in, and how not to help others out.
The teachers should be more careful when they are supervising the kids writing the tests, and punish the kids IN ACTION, not afterwards, with lousy excuses, and punishing innocent people. I mean, it's logical: if two tests are the same, it's sure one cheated. Well, it may have been team work, but it could actually happen that one wrote the test according to their best knowledge, and the other copied the answers... and then, they don't even apologize? Well, some teachers are so full of themselves, it makes me want to gag.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
6 Mar 13
I think the teacher, in this specific case, would benefit greatly by restructuring the seating arrangement in her classroom during exams. The students are seated two to a table, where their test papers are maybe a foot or two away from each other. For students who are inclined to cheat, I think the temptation and access is simply too great.
@kennetah (14)
• Kenya
5 Mar 13
Unfortunately many schools and teachers consider themselves as having the last word when it comes to any issues concerning academics.most of the times they are right but they are never 100% accurate.In my opinion private schools are always better.
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
5 Mar 13
I actually do agree with you, kennetah. I mean, the staff is in charge of their students and they have to conduct themselves and make the judgement calls that they feel are correct. I would not want to have to second-guess myself in my work in regards to every decision I make either and I sure wouldn't expect a teacher to do so. I'm truly shocked, though, that when it comes to serious issues like cheating, plagiarism and such, that they parents would not be contacted. I think some situations do demand it.
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
23 Mar 13
Nothing has happened in regard to informing my parents of anything but when I sat for an end of year exam final, my hardest subject was book=keeping. When I went into the exam and it started, I immediately wrote out the formula for a balance sheet so when the time came, if I had to do a balance sheet I would be ready. Our head teacher was the supervisor and she called me up after the exam to ask why I had cheated by bringing notes into the exam. I explained what I had done and she dismissed me but I sweated blood till the results came out because I didn't know if she had reported me or not.
It was a horrible experience because I struggled at school and wanted to do well so I had studied hard. To be accused of cheating was a frightening thing.
@asliah (11137)
• Philippines
21 Mar 13
there are times that teacher pointing a student even if without proof that they did it,and its really hurt in the part of the parent when their child accuse a thing that she/he never did,so thankful because in my whole life of being a student i never experience this.
@natliegleb (5175)
• India
8 Mar 13
Brother in law did the wrong thing and did not evaluate his options well and was found guilty,always try to beckon about the future
1 person likes this
@Raine38 (12391)
• United States
5 Mar 13
That is so terrible. The school should have called the parents and not issue punishment or judgement just like that. If the teacher cannot even get to the bottom of things her way, all the more that they need to let on the parents to what is going on.
Thankfully, nothing of the sort has happened to me nor my siblings. I guess maybe because our mom is a teacher as well and she is very visible in our school. She make it a point to know all our teachers and let them know that whatever issues or problems or anything about us arises, she is always available to come for a talk.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
5 Mar 13
My niece is one of those children that never wants her parents to "make a big deal" out of things that happen at school. So, often times, if the staff doesn't contact them, they will never know because my niece won't speak up. That's exactly what happened with the cheating accusation. My sister will always take the bull by the horns and try to work things out with the staff but my niece thinks that is embarrassing 
In any case, as I mentioned, my brother-in-law works right in one of the offices in that school and, because he is in the tech support department, he is always walking around the school too, checking on computers and doing repairs. It would have only taken a second to contact him when this situation arose. I really hope that communication can be improved 
In any case, as I mentioned, my brother-in-law works right in one of the offices in that school and, because he is in the tech support department, he is always walking around the school too, checking on computers and doing repairs. It would have only taken a second to contact him when this situation arose. I really hope that communication can be improved 