An incidence of cheating or plagiarism has been reported almost every week this year at Austin High School, AHS Principal Joe Brown said.

But because of a vague policy, punishments vary depending on the teacher's discretion.

"We don't administer a cheating policy very consistently," Brown said.

Brown and a committee of 10 to 12 teachers have drafted a cheating/plagiarism policy for next year's handbook, which is based somewhat on Stillwater High School's policy.

The proposal has yet to be approved by the school board and still needs to be proposed to some committees, Brown said.

Under the current policy, a student caught cheating loses eligibility to be on the honor roll, but beyond that the punishment is subjective. The policy reads that "classroom management will further define specific cheating consequences …" Some students fail the assignment or test they cheated on, others lose course credit.

"The only way to really put a stop to it is say, 'Here's the deal,'" Brown said.

The proposed policy has definitions of cheating and plagiarism and gives specific consequences to doing both.

The first offense would result in receiving a "0" for the test, quiz or assignment. Parents or a guardian would be notified and a discipline report would be placed in the student's file.

The students would lose eligibility for National Honor Society.

On the second offense, students also would have a conference with their parents, teacher and at least one administrator. The student also would lose eligibility for High Distinction and Distinction graduation honors and the honor roll.

On the third offense, all of the above would happen and the student would be removed from the class and lose class credit for the semester.

The offenses would be counted during a student's entire high school career. Violations that occur in different classes or grades would all count as consecutive offenses.

Brown said the consecutive penalties for offenses is new, but added he did not know of any student who was caught cheating or plagiarizing more than once.

Students know what cheating is, but the school will need to do a better job on educating student about plagiarism, Brown said.

"We would prevent a lot (of offenses) if we teach more about what's plagiarism," Brown said.

If the policy is approved, previous cheating and plagiarism offenses would not be counted next school year.

"They'll have a clean slate until the end of the year," Brown said.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at :mailto:cari.quam@austindailyherald.com