Woodson HS honor code?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of our neighbors kids has been referred to the Woodson Honor Council because a teacher said he was looking at his phone during a class assignment. The kid admits to using the phone inappropriately but says he was not getting the answer from the phone. He has even turned over search history on the phone.

So my question is- why is Woodson one of the only FCPS schools with this "honor code" and "honor council"? He is going to get pulled in front of a panel of other students who will decide the merit of this and it could possibly go on his transcript. What kind of training do these other students have? I find this whole thing absurd for a public high school and feel bad for my neighbor.

Here is the policy: https://woodsonhs.fcps.edu/academics/honor-code

He turned over the search history? Wow! /s
They cheat many different ways than using Google, you know. How many communication apps does a phone have?
This is why teachers are giving up. "Honor codes" don't mean much anymore because so many families have no honor. Cheating is ramped up exponentially from back in the day.

To me, there are 2 entirely different issues occuring here.

1) The cheating issue, and to a lesser extent the cell phone usage, are discipline issues which should be dealt with by the teacher (with admin support), or escalated up to the admin if this is a recurring issue for this particular kid. There should be appropriate administrative consequences given by the adults on the payroll. Perhaps a zero on the test for the cheating, and a detention for violating the phone policy (if that is the standard going forward for in class cell phone use.)

2) The second issue (student honor court) is completely different and the OP is correct to be upset about it. A student tribunal is a violation of the student's privacy rights, especially since this is an issue that impacts grades and potentially, college admissions. A student court opens the kids (all of them, both on the court and off) up to bullying, retaliation, gossip, and opens the school to FERPA violations. Did that parents give permission for their kids' discipline issues to be shared publicly with other students? Are kids with IEPs or 504s for things like ADHD, aspergers, spectrum issues or impulse issue also subject to this peer court? If they are not, while non IEP/504 kids are, this is a very unequal administration of school discipline. How does the school ensure fairness for the kid being punished, or protection against retaliation for the kids on the tribunal? What if there is a history between the kids of middle school bullying or neighborhood drama that the school is unaware of? What if the honor court kids mention the case to one of their parents who happens to be the neighborhood gossip? What kind of recourse and oversight do the parents and student have if they need to escalate the issue or if the issue eventually lands at lawsuit level (not improbable given that it is northern Virginia)? Do they have legal recourse against the students if the kid's ferpa rights are violated due to some kid on the honor court inadvertently gossiping about some student information that should be protected and private?

There are so many things wrong with a school using a student "honor court" to institute discipline that is solely the responsibility of the adults hired by FCPS and who are mandated to follow FERPA.

Punish the kid for cheating and having his phone out in class? Fine.

Abdicating the responsibility by using a bunch of kids to mete out punishment? Completely unacceptable.

It's somewhat funny that you mention "college admissions," considering that honor code panels at most colleges and universities are comprised of a majority of fellow students.

It is not really funny. College students are (at least on paper) adults.

High school students are minor children.

Minor children should not be administering punishment to other kids, especially something that can affect college admissions.

[Anonymous]

So, a couple of important points...

1 - it's anonymous. The student does not sit there in front of a panel of students and plea his case. Both he and the teacher submit written evidence and the Honor Council decides whether or not a violation has occurred.

2 - the "punishment" (should they be found in violation of the honor code) is the same basically as it is at every other school...you get a 0 and the opportunity to retake. There is, of course, meeting with your parents and admin and a rehash of the honor code and also the *possibility* but no guarantee that it could impact your participation in things like SGA and whatnot but my guess is those punishments are more for egregious or repeated offenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, a couple of important points...

1 - it's anonymous. The student does not sit there in front of a panel of students and plea his case. Both he and the teacher submit written evidence and the Honor Council decides whether or not a violation has occurred.

2 - the "punishment" (should they be found in violation of the honor code) is the same basically as it is at every other school...you get a 0 and the opportunity to retake. There is, of course, meeting with your parents and admin and a rehash of the honor code and also the *possibility* but no guarantee that it could impact your participation in things like SGA and whatnot but my guess is those punishments are more for egregious or repeated offenses.

It is still completely inappropriate for administrators to delegate punishment to a panel of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, a couple of important points...

1 - it's anonymous. The student does not sit there in front of a panel of students and plea his case. Both he and the teacher submit written evidence and the Honor Council decides whether or not a violation has occurred.

2 - the "punishment" (should they be found in violation of the honor code) is the same basically as it is at every other school...you get a 0 and the opportunity to retake. There is, of course, meeting with your parents and admin and a rehash of the honor code and also the *possibility* but no guarantee that it could impact your participation in things like SGA and whatnot but my guess is those punishments are more for egregious or repeated offenses.

It is still completely inappropriate for administrators to delegate punishment to a panel of students.

I mean...it's a combination of students and teachers. So it's not just the students. I actually think it works to the kid's advantage. A jury of your peers is significantly more likely to empathize and let you off the hook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, a couple of important points...

1 - it's anonymous. The student does not sit there in front of a panel of students and plea his case. Both he and the teacher submit written evidence and the Honor Council decides whether or not a violation has occurred.

2 - the "punishment" (should they be found in violation of the honor code) is the same basically as it is at every other school...you get a 0 and the opportunity to retake. There is, of course, meeting with your parents and admin and a rehash of the honor code and also the *possibility* but no guarantee that it could impact your participation in things like SGA and whatnot but my guess is those punishments are more for egregious or repeated offenses.

It is still completely inappropriate for administrators to delegate punishment to a panel of students.

It's ingenious. Parents have tied administrators' hands wrt punishment so delegating to a panel of students is an end-run around parents. Brilliant!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, a couple of important points...

1 - it's anonymous. The student does not sit there in front of a panel of students and plea his case. Both he and the teacher submit written evidence and the Honor Council decides whether or not a violation has occurred.

2 - the "punishment" (should they be found in violation of the honor code) is the same basically as it is at every other school...you get a 0 and the opportunity to retake. There is, of course, meeting with your parents and admin and a rehash of the honor code and also the *possibility* but no guarantee that it could impact your participation in things like SGA and whatnot but my guess is those punishments are more for egregious or repeated offenses.

It is still completely inappropriate for administrators to delegate punishment to a panel of students.

It's ingenious. Parents have tied administrators' hands wrt punishment so delegating to a panel of students is an end-run around parents. Brilliant!

It is not brilliant. It is pure laziness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, a couple of important points...

1 - it's anonymous. The student does not sit there in front of a panel of students and plea his case. Both he and the teacher submit written evidence and the Honor Council decides whether or not a violation has occurred.

2 - the "punishment" (should they be found in violation of the honor code) is the same basically as it is at every other school...you get a 0 and the opportunity to retake. There is, of course, meeting with your parents and admin and a rehash of the honor code and also the *possibility* but no guarantee that it could impact your participation in things like SGA and whatnot but my guess is those punishments are more for egregious or repeated offenses.

It is still completely inappropriate for administrators to delegate punishment to a panel of students.

I mean...it's a combination of students and teachers. So it's not just the students. I actually think it works to the kid's advantage. A jury of your peers is significantly more likely to empathize and let you off the hook.

It’s not really anonymous. Kids talk and and gossip spreads quickly thoughout schools and classrooms. The kids in the panel likely know who is involved. Secondly, students won’t necessarily empathize. You give them too much credit. There are dozens of scenarios where a student on the panel will abuse his power.

Why does there even need to be a panel discussion for this? The kid broke a rule and used his phone during a test.. He knew the consequences when he chose to have his phone out. Make him retake the test without a phone or give him a 50%. Hopefully it teaches the kid and his peers a lesson and he can move on without dragging it out and shaming the student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, a couple of important points...

1 - it's anonymous. The student does not sit there in front of a panel of students and plea his case. Both he and the teacher submit written evidence and the Honor Council decides whether or not a violation has occurred.

2 - the "punishment" (should they be found in violation of the honor code) is the same basically as it is at every other school...you get a 0 and the opportunity to retake. There is, of course, meeting with your parents and admin and a rehash of the honor code and also the *possibility* but no guarantee that it could impact your participation in things like SGA and whatnot but my guess is those punishments are more for egregious or repeated offenses.

It is still completely inappropriate for administrators to delegate punishment to a panel of students.

I mean...it's a combination of students and teachers. So it's not just the students. I actually think it works to the kid's advantage. A jury of your peers is significantly more likely to empathize and let you off the hook.

It’s not really anonymous. Kids talk and and gossip spreads quickly thoughout schools and classrooms. The kids in the panel likely know who is involved. Secondly, students won’t necessarily empathize. You give them too much credit. There are dozens of scenarios where a student on the panel will abuse his power.

Why does there even need to be a panel discussion for this? The kid broke a rule and used his phone during a test.. He knew the consequences when he chose to have his phone out. Make him retake the test without a phone or give him a 50%. Hopefully it teaches the kid and his peers a lesson and he can move on without dragging it out and shaming the student.

Exactly.

A cut and dry infraction like this does not need to be decided by committee.

[Anonymous]

Well, seeing as how you have done a terrible job of lying about how this is your "neighbor's" kid, it's no surprise that your offspring would find themselves on the wrong and of the honor code.

BTW, at Woodson a case only goes to the honor council if the student denies any wrongdoing. You've already admitted that your kid engaged in unauthorized use of electronic materials during a test, which on the policy (that even you cited) falls directly underneath their definition of cheating. So I don't know what exactly you're trying to get out of this.

Also, so few cases actually make it to Honor Council at Woodson that I promise this is the only active case right now. You'd better hope that no one on the panel sees this before they meet, and that the panel moderator doesn't print this thread off before Jeff deletes it. If Jeff will delete it.

To put it into terms that your phone-addicted kid will understand, tiktok...

[Anonymous]

As a teacher I echo the person above me. OP, this is your kid. At a minimum, he learned an important lesson which is when they say no phones during a test, he needs to have the self control not to look at his phone for any reason. It isn’t that damn hard. Even if he didn’t cheat (he probably did), he’s now in this situation because he can’t go without his phone for the duration of one test. Huge issue. You think the cheating on his transcript is the problem and it’s not - that is. Good luck to him when he tries to cheat his way through college and gets caught or fails his classes because he can’t manage phone use.