Parents, Students Question Punishment In Darien HS Cheating Case

DARIEN, CT — Does the punishment fit the infraction? In a recent case of cheating by several sophomore students at Darien High School, the general consensus from the attendees at a special Board of Education meeting on the topic is no.

An overflow crowd of more than 100 packed the Darien Public Schools offices Tuesday night to discuss the case, in which a group of students broke into an a school office after hours on Jan. 18 and photographed answers to English and World Studies midterm tests.

The students, who have not been publicly identified, then gave the answers to other students, and those answers were disseminated through social media. As a result, between 280 and 300 students may have received the answers, according to Darien Schools Superintendent Alan Addley.

As a result, the school is planning to re-administer the tests next week, which for many in attendance on Tuesday, is not fair to the students who did not cheat. Many spoke of the difficulty of re-taking tests three weeks after the first tests were given.

Additionally, many also said that the perception among students is that those who have been caught are not being punished enough.

"Students are feeling like the kids only got a slap on the wrist," said Pace Flaherty, a student who launched a Change.org petition calling for harsher punishments, which has garnered more than 270 signatures.

"The students, for their actions, received five days of In School Suspension," Flaherty wrote on the petition. "What I have found is that most, if not all, of my peers in the tenth grade at DHS are extremely unhappy and angry that such an inconsequential punishment is all the action that has been taken against the students that committed such a large breach of academic honesty."

Among the punishments attendees at the meeting floated include benching the guilty parties from sports teams and/or removing them from extracurricular clubs and activities.

"If you don't have more severe punishments, you will absolutely see this happen again," one student said.

As Board of Education Chairperson Tara Ochman said before and during the meeting, the board does not mete out punishments, and whether the high school will reconsider the discipline was not clear.

Addley said the administration has initiated a "360-degree evaluation" of the incident and policies, including the school's security protocols, which were breached by the students.