Dr. Billy K. Cannaday, Jr.
President, Virginia Board of Education
Dear Dr. Cannaday:
I am writing you on behalf of over twenty former and current students including faculty at Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS), who are extremely concerned about cheating on non-SOL testing on school-issued laptops, which has been a chronic problem since 2007.1 Unfortunately, cheating is not only a widespread problem at Hidden Valley High School, but throughout RCPS in grades 8-12.2
I taught Latin at Hidden Valley High School from 2011 to 2013. Despite informing the administration in November 2012 about cheating on school-issued laptops, nothing was ever resolved. Over ten of my former students informed me after graduating in June 2015 that cheating at the school actually had worsened in the past two years. Many of them described the cheating as “nuts,” “rampant,” and “out of control.” I informed Al Bedrosian of the Board of Supervisors in October 2015 and Fuzzy Minnix of the School Board in November 2015 about my concerns, but nothing was resolved. So I addressed the School Board on March 24, and again nothing was resolved except a vague promise by Jeff Terry, the Chief Information Officer, to update and secure Blackboard next fall (Gregory). I also addressed the Board of Supervisors on April 26 upon the invitation of Al Bedrosian, but unfortunately they do not have any oversight of the school district.
I believe that RCPS is in violation of Standard 7 (C) (3) of the Code of Virginia, which states that “the standards of student conduct and attendance and enforcement procedures [are] designed to provide that public education be conducted in an atmosphere free of disruption and threat to persons or property and supportive of individual rights” (§ 22.1-253.13:7).3 There is no question that RCPS currently has adequate “standards of student conduct” in place for academic integrity. According to Policy 7.11 or the Roanoke County Student Conduct Code, Rule 9 states that “students are expected to perform honestly on any assigned schoolwork or tests” (RCPS Current Policies SERIES 07: Students). Rule 9 (A) states that “students shall not cheat on a test or assigned schoolwork by giving, receiving, offering, and/or soliciting information” while Rule 9 (E) further states that they shall not “use technology for any unauthorized use” (RCPS Current Policies). Likewise, according to the Student Handbook of Hidden Valley High School for 2014-15 the honor code’s goal is “to maintain a high level of integrity, to strive honestly in all endeavors, and to perpetuate an atmosphere of trust between peers, students, and faculty” (2).4
Unfortunately, the central office of RCPS and the administration at Hidden Valley High School have total disregard for realistically enforcing these policies and rules when students take an online non-SOL test or quiz on school-issued laptops using Blackboard. It is extremely easy for a student to cheat without getting caught making the “enforcement procedures” in Standard 7 (C) (3) almost meaningless. The problem is that students have complete access to both their hard drives and the internet during an online test, and it is impossible for a teacher to watch fifteen or thirty laptop screens and also look for traditional cheating such as crib sheets and smartphones. Students can easily right click on Google, access the Snipping Tool, copy and paste answers, hide a cheat sheet, email passwords, etc. and most insidiously program a key to perform screen captures of an entire test or quiz to a Google server without the teacher ever knowing it. This testing environment is the direct opposite of state-mandated SOL testing which requires a lockdown browser and other needed software in order to prevent digital cheating.
Standard 7 (C) (3) clearly states that “public education be conducted in an atmosphere” “supportive of individual rights” (§ 22.1-253.13:7). RCPS has violated the “individual rights” of honest students who obey the rules or “standards of student conduct” (§ 22.1-253.13:7). The honest students are at a distinct disadvantage in competing against the dishonest ones in terms of lower GPAs, lower class ranking, and less academic awards, which also negatively impacts college admissions, scholarships and grants. There is a de facto system of academic apartheid between the honest students and the dishonest ones or cheaters in grades 8-12 throughout RCPS, thereby negligently allowing a non-level playing field and creating a negative “atmosphere” of learning. Like Major League Baseball players in the 1990s until 2005 during the steroid era, many honest students ask themselves if they should cheat in order to get ahead academically while the dishonest students never ask themselves this question. This is a moral dilemma every honest student faces during the academic year at Hidden Valley High School and all the other county schools in grades 8-12.
In addition, Standard 7 (C) (3) states that “public education be conducted in an atmosphere” “free of disruption” (§ 22.1-253.13:7). Not only is cheating both academically disruptive and morally wrong it also teaches bad “citizenship” by negative example for irresponsible and NOT “responsible participation in American society,” which is both a violation of the public trust and Standard 1 (C. 1) (e.) (Code of Virginia. § 22.1-253.13:1.).5 RCPS should not be teaching its students to be emulating such notorious “cheats” as Lance Armstrong, Mark McGwire, Lenny Dykstra and Alex Rodriguez, not to mention Swiss banks, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen. Lastly, cheating certainly does not “foster public confidence” in RCPS, which is one of the five “accreditation standards” of the “public education system” in Virginia (“Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia” (8VAC20-131) 3).
RCPS has not been in compliance with both Standards 7 (C) (3) and 1 (C. 1) (e.) in grades 9-12 since 2007.6 When a student takes an online test or quiz on a school-issued laptop, the school district does not provide adequate “enforcement procedures” as described in Rules 9(A) and 9(E) in Policy 7.11 or the Roanoke County Student Conduct Code. Hidden Valley High School has also failed “to maintain a high level of integrity” and other ethical standards as described in the school’s honor code. However, the most egregious violation has been the noncompliance of RCPS with Standard 7 (C) (3), which states that “public education be conducted in an atmosphere” “supportive of individual rights.” This has repeatedly resulted in honest students being at a distinct disadvantage in competing against the dishonest ones in terms of lower GPAs, lower class ranking, and less academic awards negatively impacting college admissions, scholarships and grants. Consequently cheating has also allowed the teaching of very bad citizenship, which is a violation of Standard 1 (C. 1) (e.). There needs to be an immediate external investigation from Richmond in order to ascertain the status of the school district’s state accreditation, and determine who has been either responsible or complicit in this shameful and preventable academic misconduct. The students, parents and taxpayers in Roanoke County all deserve more integrity and better accountability from their public schools.
Sincerely,
Robert Maronic
Roanoke, VA
