Naperville Central Newspaper Clarifies Student Cheating Scandal Reports

Naperville Central High School's Central Times newspaper is setting the record straight regarding misconceptions reported during the school's recent cheating incidents.

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According to a Central Times editorial, cheating was not brought on or assisted by the school's Bring Your Own Device pilot program, which allows students to use electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops in the classroom for academic purposes.

"Multiple news stations and newspapers have assumed that the cheating occurred with the assistance of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program. This is simply incorrect," according to Central Times editors. "The cheating incident merely occurred in a class that happened to be piloting the BYOD program."

This fall, Naperville School District 203 started the Bring Your Own Device program with the intent to "allow students to engage in learning" through the use of portable devices, according to district 203's website.   

Editors at Central Times also said, "Every teacher that we know who pilots the BYOD program does not allow students to utilize their phones during a test."

Principal Bill Wiesbrook addressed parents about the issue in an email sent out on Dec. 7, stating the school's "Academic Integrity" had come into question after deans found significant cases of cheating during an investigation in late November, Central Times reports.

"Concerns about student cheating at Naperville Central were recently brought to the attention of school staff by other students," Wiesbrook said in a letter to parents, also posted on the Central Times website. "We commend these students for taking the appropriate action when they observed behavior that was frustrating and wrong." 

A student who served a suspension after being caught cheating told the student paper that he or she sent photos of scantrons to other students. The anonymous student alleged that cheating could be widespread at the school, Central Times reports. 

Weisbrook met with the student paper on Dec. 3 and told reporters punishment for students would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

To read the full story, visit Central Times.