The kids needed a lesson in hypocrisy:
"Boston principal plagiarized Forbes column; Dorchester middle school leader apologizes to staff" by James Vaznis | Globe Staff, July 22, 2013
A newly appointed Boston middle school principal, hoping to inspire her staff to take risks for success and to learn from one another, extensively plagiarized a Forbes magazine column on leadership in her first memo to the staff, sparking outrage among some teachers and an apology from the principal.
Jaime Moody, principal of Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School in Dorchester, sent the memo by e-mail on July 9, copying word-for-word or slightly tweaking large chunks of the column, titled “Why Getting Comfortable with Discomfort is Crucial to Success.”
The plagiarized material consumed more than 300 words of Moody’s two-page memo, and she never attributed any information to the Forbes column, written by Margie Warrell and published April 22, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Globe.
All the commentary you get here is mine own and all original.
For a few teachers the material — immediately following discussion of staffing changes for this fall — seemed to represent an abrupt switch in tone and focus, raising questions about whether the words were hers.
One skeptical teacher pasted a chunk of it into Google. The first entry that popped up was the Forbes column.
“It’s crazy what she did,” said one teacher, who relayed the story of the discovery and asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. “We are very strict about plagiarism. We talk [students] through it. . . . It’s almost like she is above the law. It’s just so bad for the kids and us.”
That's how people at the top of AmeriKan institutions think these days.
Related: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Liar
And she is a respected historian.
On Friday, Moody issued a written apology to the Frederick staff after the Globe made inquiries about the memo, and after her boss in the central office received a complaint from another source.
“I inappropriately copied words from another author and passed them off as my own,” Moody wrote in her apology, which was provided to the Globe. “We teach our students never to do this and to always properly attribute when they use words written by someone else.
I do, and I remember what a big deal the college made of it.
“There is never any excuse for this and if I could turn back the clock I would have done things very differently. I wish to offer my deepest apology to you and to the original author.”
Moody could not be reached for comment.
John McDonough, interim superintendent, expressed disappointment about the plagiarism....
School Department officials would not say whether Moody would face any discipline for her plagiarism.
“We are taking this issue seriously. However, if there were to be any discipline, it would be a confidential personnel matter,” said Lee McGuire, a School Department spokesman.
Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union, said he could not recall any cases of teachers being caught plagiarizing and then facing discipline.
“I do believe everyone is entitled to a mistake like this,” Stutman said. “I think it is appropriate she apologized, and it is appropriate we accept her apology, and consider it a lesson learned.”
Wow. Not really a mistake when they knew it was wrong and did it anyway. Of course, I'm sure she would have confessed had she not been caught.
Moody, a Boston public schools educator of the year in 2005, was appointed principal last month with the hope of boosting academic performance and staff morale. She was highly recommended by a search committee that included staff, parents, and members of Frederick’s governing board, and is earning $110,000 annually.
Frederick, which opened 10 years ago in what was then a new building, has been going through a turbulent period.
Its previous principal, DaQuall Graham, was placed on administrative leave last summer after the School Department received complaints about questionable use of technology....
Moody, who previously served as the school’s assistant principal, has been soliciting feedback from the staff about their concerns and how to build a more successful program.
When she went to write her July 9 memo, Moody said in her apology, she turned to Warrell’s column to help capture her thoughts as she attempted “to convey the message that we are at our best when we learn from one another.”
Warrell, an executive coach who has appeared on national television shows such as NBC’s “Today,” based the column on her latest book, “Stop Playing Safe,” in which she interviewed several leaders about their paths and hurdles with respect to success....
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