Two School Committee members affirm high standards for all on academic integrity
School Committee members Kathleen Kelly and Patty Nolan at an October 2013 forum. (Photo: Marc Levy)
From Kathleen M. Kelly and Patricia Nolan, School Committee members, on May 11: We, as members of Cambridge School Committee, believe academic integrity is the bedrock foundation for all public school districts. We expect all members of the Cambridge Public Schools to be held to high standards. Cambridge Public School policy holds our students to high standards of academic integrity and states clear consequences when these standards are not met. We expect the same for CPS staff.
We recognize that any specific instance of not meeting high standards of academic integrity on the part of staff is a personnel issue and therefore any review and/or consequence would be a private matter, per fair labor standards. As the policy-making body for the Cambridge Public Schools, our role with respect to academic integrity policies is to establish them and ensure that they are followed. We also have a role as leaders to publicly remind our district staff that we expect the highest standards of academic integrity to be upheld by all staff and contractors, and when these standards are not met that appropriate consequences will be applied.
Thank you, Ms. Kelly and Ms. Nolan, for speaking out on this very serious issue. Where on earth are the other five members of the School Committee–David Maher, Fran Cronin, Fred Fantini, Richard Harding, and Mervan Osborne?
I do not know what “fair labor standards” require, as I am not a labor lawyer. As a citizen, I find it hard to understand why I cannot know how, if at all, Ms. Huizenga is being disciplined for a very serious infraction. She is an assistant superintendent, not a rank-and-file employee. Her plagiarism was committed in a public forum. Her supervisor is the superintendent of schools, who has a responsibility, one would have thought, to uphold the highest standards of integrity for a member of his leadership team and to do so publicly.
Sadly, this is far from the first occasion we CPS parents have had to observe that Dr. Young’s supposed commitment to “academic excellence” is just so much warmed-over carbon monoxide. The damage he has done, and continues to do, to our school system is incalculable, except when you add up the very substantial raises our supine School Committee has granted him in exchange for extremely little in the way of performance these past six years.
How are our schools to improve as dramatically as they need to when the School Committee and the central administration militantly refuse to uphold the standards everyone else is supposed to adhere to? The real tragedy of CPS is that we have teachers, parents, and citizens who care passionately about the quality of the schools but are rendered effectively powerless in the face of totally unresponsive and irresponsible governance.
As 2 of the 7 policy makers for our District, thanks for voicing your thoughts, School Committee members K. Kelly and P. Nolan, but what took you so long?
In March 24, 2015 CambridgeDay documented Asst. Supt. Jessica Huizenga’s multiple and clear acts of plagiarism. While SC member F. Cronin flagged Huizenga’s work as “a pretty terrific piece,” no one on the SC took any notice of its glaring multiple acts of plagiarism until this week. Dr. Huizenga’s boss even brushed the situation aside and stated clearly months ago that he and the SC—his employer—held no interest in “this type of question” should it be raised in respect to CPSD staff in future.
“…Young raised the issue with Huizenga and later said he had ‘tremendous confidence in Dr. Huizenga and support[s] her fully in her work in Cambridge.’ …he suggested contacting her directly with ‘this type of question’ in the future rather than going to the superintendent or School Committee.” [https://www.cambridgeday.com/2015/03/24/whatever-reason-plagiarism-is-no-better-for-administrators-than-it-is-for-students/]
Ms. Kelly and Ms. Nolan, both candidates for School Committee in November, write of ensuring that “high standards of academic integrity policies…are followed…and when these standards are not met that appropriate consequences will be applied.” Yet they dodge disciplining Dr. Huizenga being disciplined by their Superintendent for violation of the integrity policies.
In 2014 the Newton, MA, Board of Education fined Superintendent David Fleishman, Ph.D., a week’s salary, $4890, for his multiple acts of plagiarism. The 2014-15 SC needs to review its Acceptable Use policy in regard to staff plagiarism and disciplinary action and to assess whether Dr. Young’s Asst. Supt. of Curriculum and Instruction has made our District subject to civil liability for copyright infringement.
SC Chair Maher, Voters and CPSD families need this to happen before the end of the current school year, before the superintendent search takes off, before the 2015 campaign season begins.