Newton’s Superintendent of Schools David Fleishman emailed this letter to school families today…
July 30, 2014
Dear Families,
By now, many of you have read or heard media reports regarding the controversy surrounding my graduation speeches this past spring. The students, families, community and faculty deserved far better from me and it is hard to put into words my deep regret and sorrow over my actions.
First, it was inexcusable that my graduation speech included several phrases and thoughts that were similar to the radio excerpts I heard from Governor Patrick’s speech. It was essential that Governor Patrick be credited and cited for his words, and while it was not my intent to be so careless and intellectually dishonest, this was a very serious omission on my part. I am terribly sorry for what I have done and for letting the community down.
Second, I apologize for not putting greater thought and time into my speeches. As one who typically devotes considerable energy to both my written pieces and speeches, I learned a tough lesson about doing things in a sloppy and hasty manner.
Perhaps the most painful aspect of this episode is my failure to lead by example, something that I take very seriously. I fully recognize that trust and confidence is an essential aspect of successful leadership and I am very sorry for what has been lost. I am fully aware that it is up to me to restore such trust and confidence in the community and I will do everything possible to make that happen.
In the field of education, we often talk about learning from failures. I can assure you that I have learned from mine. As I have said many times, I consider it a great privilege to lead such an excellent school system and look forward to continuing to address the important opportunities and challenges ahead.
Best,
David Fleishman
Excellent and thoughtful letter. This is David Fleishman that we have come to respect and admire in Newton.
Put a fork in him. He’s cooked!
I agree, Greg. Very refreshing and capable of resetting the situation. I look forward to sharing this letter with the NSHS student in my household.
Excellent. The only thing that didn’t make it perfect was he didn’t give credit to the two students that listened so carefully to his 3 minute address and discovered the issue, and to his colleague, the English Dept head that helped bring this to light.
I bet the Newton Tab Editorial made him realize he was really “cooked”. Unfortunately this is the letter he should have sent out when he was approached by the Lions Roar Students and Teacher.
So should we be expecting an updated letter from the SC next?
Wish this letter had been the original letter!
Great letter. I hope that the Superintendent and School Committee recognize, with the gift of hindsight, that a letter like this should have been their first move, not their last.
It is a very well written document. I agree with the timing suggested by both Joanne and Newton Mom. If this apology had been released in early June, or even late June when the SC first knew, it’s sincerity would have been much more believable. Given it took an extra month, public news coverage, the first unacceptable explanation, and an inadequate penalty by the SC, I still question the true motive of this second document.
He now states: “I am fully aware that it is up to me to restore such trust and confidence in the community and I will do everything possible to make that happen.” I await to see what actions he takes to make such trust and confidence return.
Great letter! Too bad it wasn’t handled this way 5+ weeks ago. Hopefully this is a lesson to the School Committee for the future: be transparent & come clean from the beginning. If you stonewall, you lose.
I agree that that the timing could have been better, but it sounds sincere to me. He made an error in judgement, wished he had not, wanted it to just go away, but finally realized it wasn’t so he did the right thing.
First, as I read the letter, it seemed to me he was laying out the reasons why he should resign. But then he doesn’t. Serious omission, failure, loss of trust and confidence…but then he says he will try to come back from that and lead.
Second, is it really correct that he only needed to cite Gov Patrick? It’s one thing to quote a phrase or sentence, but he appropriated half a dozen whole sentences. Even if he cited Patrick, at some point there is an argument that you are committing copyright infringement based on the Fair Use doctrine.
Also, who gives a speech that includes that much of someone else’s speech? To suggest that he should have just slapped some quotes around that much verbiage is silly. Can you imagine a speech where someone says “and for the sixth time, allow me to quote so-and-so…”. Not even if you’re quoting Yogi Berra or Grouch Marx. It would get old.
And I’m not impressed that he has sent out a more apologetic letter given all of the negative feedback he has received. What counts is the first statement – that’s what he hoped would suffice. Only now that it is painfully clear that it hasn’t, he puts out what many people have been talking about for days. The first impulse is the most telling.
But the question remains: Does Newton want to have a plagiarist superintendent leading a school system that metes out harsh punishments for plagiarism?
Found in a doctor’s waiting room today in a June issue of “Real Simple” magazine.
http://www.sorrywatch.com/
Great website/blog that looks at apologies from many areas in history and the present, and gives thumbs up to the good ones, and thumbs down to the “not so good” ones.
Its a very nicely written letter.
A key word missing from it: plagiarism. As Steven noted, this wasn’t a one liner taken from Patrick without attribution. There are five or six places in his speech, some very close to exact language. This WAS plagiarism. Fleishman can’t muster up the chutzpah to call it as many other already have done.
He declined to comment to journalists as to whether this was plagiarism, and still fails to do so.
Not a full acknowledgment of his mistake.
In context of coming five weeks too late, after having been exposed by high school journalists, with a penalty too insufficient, its not enough.
Unless of course, recalling what you heard and “building on themes” is allowed according to the NPS policy on plagiarism.
Very thoughtful post, Steven. I write this because my neighbor’s daughter was severely punished for plagiarizing. She received a zero on a paper and it hurt her GPA a great deal. It was a first offense, she admitted she panicked about getting in her paper on time because she had so many assignments due.
We need more from our leadership. Also, is this his first offense or his first “bust?” I wonder if he correctly attributed all sources in his Columbia thesis? Any local journalist care to have a look?
At Lassy – it is too bad your neighbors Daughter did not have the SC handing out her judgement. This is my issue exactly – WE CANNOT have a LEADER of our schools who PLAGIARIZED. What example has he set. Your friends daughter is most likely screwed into getting into the college of her choice because of this and it was her first offense. He gets off with pocket change. And my gut is it is not his First Offense. He just got caught this time. And the only reason he sent out another letter was because of the Tab Editorial. He needs to resign.
I don’t think David Fleishman’s plagiarism should end his career in government and politics. If anything, he should move to Montana and run for Senate out there.
http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive–sen–john-walsh-responds-to-revelations-that-he-plagiarized-army-war-college-paper-215332245.html
I agree with everyone that this should have been his first apology, but it is a much more complete an fitting apology none the less. This is more befitting of our esteemed Superintendent.
NOW … it is the SC’s turn to do their part. Rectify their missteps. Hold some properly noticed meetings and come up with a more fitting consequence. That would be a great way to start the school year.
For those that think Fleishman should continue as Superintendent:
What exactly are parents supposed to tell their children why they would get a failing grade for plagiarism but the Superintendent just loses a week’s pay?
Someone help me here, do they get a failing grade in the class or on that particular paper or speech? Because if it’s the second, then I think it’s pretty clear that David Fleishman received a failing grade on his speech and a history of that will follow him forever on Google.
(I assume when a kid plagiarizes, the teacher does not post the news online.)
Exactly Paul You are so right. This is what the SC doesn’t understand. If the Leader of the Organization is a plagiarist than why shouldn’t the faculty and the students do the same. The punishment should have been resignation.
What we should be asking is what are Parents supposed to do to get a new Superintendent? I certainly dont want a person with ZERO Integrity heading the Education system in Newton.
Looking at all that has transpired, I see no way that Fleishman can return to being an effective Superintendent for NPS. And I’d like to hear anyone try to argue that he’s actually the best Superintendent available for NPS. Would Newton ever consider the possibility of hiring a Superintendent who had admitted to plagiarism somewhere else? Such an applicant would never allowably be a contender for the job. Why is Fleishman different?
As the school year gets under way, it is going to quickly become apparent that Fleishman has lost the respect of too many people; parents, students, and teachers, to be an effective Superintendent. The first time many Newtonites will hear of this, is when they return from their summer vacations, so the full impact will be delayed. And I can only imagine what might happen if it turns out that there was a prior incident that went unnoticed at the time.
My understanding is that the student will receive a failing grade for that particular assignment, which can have a pretty significant effect on the student’s final grade for the class. Let’s be honest – this story made national news, and this issue is going to follow Dr. Fleishman for the rest of his career. That will have a much more significant effect than any fine or reprimand from Newton.
I believe it was Hoss that recommended reviewing DF’s contract to see what verbiage covering professional conduct is included, and if there was a breach of contract by any of his actions both in the execution of the plagiarism and DF’s following actions.
The original sin was serious enough, but if we keep focusing on it, the other serious sin is going to happen again, and again. A small committee that controls $200 million of Newton tax funds, oversees hundreds of employees, and sets the standards on which ten thousand students develop learning made some serious blunders. In the most generous extreme, they failed to follow each and every aspect of the Open Mtg law; something that is admittedly complex. On the most damaging extreme, they may have intentionally tried to hide this deliberation from us. I’m hoping we’re not done that aspect. For their Aug 13th meeting, I expect to hear a vote around the Minutes for each of the Executive Sessions
What an absurd conversation. Truly and completely absurd but so very Newtonian.
First off is the claim that Dr. Fleishman cannot recover from this. “Let’s be honest” (to quote Saint Tricia), plenty of public people recover from incidents like this and go on to have very productive careers, that is assuming they are competent in their jobs in the first place. A year from now, two years from now, this will all be forgotten if three elementary school projects are well underway, the budget is balanced, and the school system is doing well.
Second, I have no problem supporting David Fleishman to my kids. I tell then that he is a very busy guy with rather substantial responsibilities. He took a shortcut, made a serious mistake, and has apologized for it. In spite of the fully unsupported speculation (by folks like the Joanne the Blessed) that this is not his first offense, all facts point to it being just that. In light of previous strong performance, I would (and will) tell my children that it’s time to move on. Case closed. There are more important things to do. If he screws up again, well, that is a far different story….
Then there is the issue of the student receiving a zero for plagiarism. Lacking full knowledge of the facts and circumstances, how can anyone even begin tom compare Dr. Fleishman’s case with the one cited by the Lassy the Upright? Just because the visible elements of the offenses are similar does not mean that the punishments should be as well. The devil is in the details which none of you have. Even then, the thought that one zero will keep Junior out of a good college is patently ridiculous, but pretty much par for the intellectual course on this blog.
More generally though, it is shocking to hear the tenor of the comments here. To the best of my knowledge this was the first time David Fleishman has made an ethical error. The first time. Moreover, up until now, he was pretty well regarded by the community for the work he has done in Newton. So now he makes a mistake, albeit a substantial one, and the bloggers are out with pitchforks. It’s disgusting. I wonder how many of you who feign such outrage never screwed up? How many of you have benefited from someone else’s forgiveness? As a Jew educated by the Jesuits, I’ve spent more than my share of time both at Mass and in Yom Kippur services. You all apparently skipped those events. I am rather far from perfect, but not nearly so sanctimonious as to even feel, much less publicly elucidate, what you all feel and say about Dr. Fleishman. If Dr. Fleishman has some ethical issues to address, the folks on this blog by and large suffer from comparable moral failings.
Awesome comment Elmo.
@Elmo– I think you’re missing the mark with your criticism. If this were just about the single issue of Fleishman plagiarizing a speech, I may agree it’s a survivable offense. But it’s not like Fleishman suddenly had an attack of conscience and admitted what he’d done. He got caught! In my opinion, the fact that he was not immediately forthcoming, makes a big difference in this case.
And Mike I think you’re missing Elmo’s point about forgiveness and the suggestion that maybe people ought to take a look in the mirror now and then. I know I’ve benefited plenty of times from people allowing me to move on from the many mistakes I’ve made in my life.
You’ve never hidden the fact Mike that you’ve been unhappy with our school department and School Committee long before this incident surfaced. I suspect that if Fleishman had issued his second apology the day after he gave that speech you and Joanne and a few others here would still be calling for his head.
Agreed, Elmo. Great post.
Elmo — The conversation is as you say “so very Newtonian”, but using absurd doesn’t fit. You should be very proud that the focus on the small stuff is “so very Newtonian”. I am. The reason the small stuff generates discussion in Newton is that the big stuff that’s common throughout Massachusetts municipal gov’t doesn’t isn’t commonplace here. A City our size having discussions on the small stuff is quite nice.
Greg– You’ll have to take my word for this. If Fleishman came clean the day after his speech, I’d be on this blog defending his job. I’ve never had a significant issue with David Fleishman. But how does one ignore the fact that this was covered up for a month, until two student journalists nabbed him?
I’m not ignoring it. And I’m still looking forward to a better explanation and investigation into the actions taken by the School Committee related to delaying the announcement and what appears to be a very suspect process.
But that’s separate from the fact that David Fleishman has apologized and I accept that portion of this incident.
I think you’re attributing the month long delay to the School Committee. But Fleishman had that entire month to speak up. The fact that he didn’t, makes me wonder what he would have done if this story had never gone public. The fact is, he only publicly admitted wrongdoing after he was caught. As a result, I judge him more harshly.
Infuriated, I wrote the following in response to Emily Rosenbaum’s post: David Fleishman hasn’t yet ‘made it right’ at Wicked Local.
http://newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20140801/NEWS/140809724
Wicked Local however has a 1500 character limit and I spent too much effort to send it to the trash bin.
—————————————————
Stop. Just stop. Sometime this city just makes me nuts.
I know nothing of David Fleishman’s prior reputation or accomplishments , and in reading the two texts I had hoped that the similarity would not be so blatant.
Even so, I think it is important in this instance to consider the context and the intent. This was a graduation speech intended to inspire students, not a literary piece for personal profit or gain.
Furthermore, as a creative professional I know that no creative work is entirely original. Years ago I designed a logo for a radio station. Weeks later, looking out my office window, I noticed a sign about a mile away with the exact same configuration as the logo I designed. Assuming Fleishman has otherwise been an honest, upstanding professional, this is not the sort of issue that needs to erase a lifetime’s achievement and contribution.
Honestly, I’m more concerned about the effects of “parents like you” than the effects of Fleishman’s actions. You write: “Fleishman will become either a joke or an object of revulsion to the students” Really? Are those the only two possibilities? Am I to assume that you believe life is so black and white? … We are either honest, or deserving of ridicule and revulsion?
As life progresses, I’m increasingly aware of how quickly a life can be turned by a decision, oversight, misunderstanding, circumstance or lapse in judgement. The truth is, we need to prepare our kids for a life that can be difficult and unfair, where an honest hard-working person can drift across a line unknowingly.
Our kids don’t need “messages,” they need discussion. What is plagiarism? Where is the line between using another’s work as inspiration and plagiarism? How do you resolve your feelings when someone you work with screws up? These are the questions we should be asking our kids. A spirit of intolerance and ‘rush to judgement,’ does nothing but hurt us all because at some point in our lives we all are Superintendent Fleishman.
Yes, Emily, even you.
Mike Ciolino
Waltham Street
West Newton
Elmo and Mike:
Thank you for reminding me that there are voices of reason out there.
Elmo, you totally missed my point. I never said he couldn’t “recover” from this, in terms of his career – I believe he can and will. I was trying to respond to the sentiment that he hasn’t been “punished enough”, or at least on par with a student. What I meant, and maybe wasn’t clear enough in saying, is that for a person like David Fleishman – a well-respected educator with an exemplary track record who from everything I’ve seen cares deeply about the success of our students and schools – having something like this, something completely at odds with everything else you’ve ever done, be the first thing that pops up in a Google search *does* have a significant impact. Whether it impacts his career or not, it certainly impacts *him* profoundly.
And for the record, I am no saint. And I do believe in forgiveness. ad majorem dei gloriam
Just for the heck of it, I’ll throw this out to Greg and Gail. Did the issue of plagiarism ever arise with any of your subordinates at The Tab? If so, how did you deal with it?
I have heard from 2 teachers that the NTA put out an email to their members yesterday. I have not read it but both teachers have told me that it was not supportive of the Superintendent and the punishment he received. They were also told not to post any comments on Facebook. I could not find the NTA website to see if the letter was posted online. Both teachers told me that the Superintendent should resign – he is the leader of the Education system and at this level this is not the type of mistake that should be tolerated. He would not tolerate it of a faculty member or a principal and the punishment of a student is clearly ALOT harsher than what he got.
I don’t remember it happening in Newton. Greg can speak for many more papers than Newton.
Mike Ciolino – That was brilliant. I loved it.
Elmo – I took Tricia’s initial comments as she restated them, probably because I know that she does not have a self righteous bone in her body.
The NTA would never presume to take aways the freedom to speech from its members.
Then Post the letter Jane . I was told by 2 Teachers they were told in the letter NOT to post any Comments about this on Facebook.
Has anyone asked Gov Patrick if he minds?
The more this issue rattles around in my head, the more I see that the public is largely unaware of how this business of speeches works. It is the rare public official that writes all their own speeches.
Over the years I have been hired by various municipal political candidates to sort out the themes that would resonate with voters, and write inspiring text for speeches and campaign materials. Great fun for me as I get an opportunity to directly impact a race without actually running for office (which I have had no desire to do) My words have won a mayorship and multiple city level positions. Is that plagiarism?
I don’t know to what extent Deval Patrick writes his own speeches, but it’s very likely that the words that David Fleishman used were actually authored by someone else.
For those of you who can’t imagine how such a oversight could possibly happen, you should know that the sharing of themes and words is somewhat of an accepted practice among like-minded politicians, and our Governor Patrick is quite a popular source for political word swipes.
Back in 2008, Barack Obama was “caught” plagiarizing Governor Patrick’s words. And what was his punishment? Ah, yes, he was elected President of the United States.
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/20/the-obama-plagiarism-scandal/
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2008/02/dont_call_it_plagiarism.html
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/02/sweet_barack_obama_lifts_some.html
I don’t know anything about the SC, but I do not think he should get of the hook so easily. I find that we would be doing our students a disservice if we hold them more accountable for plagerism than the SC. That would send the wrong message.
In my line of work honesty, trust and intellectual integrity are everything. I’d be fired very quickly if I did the same thing. Not saying he should be fired, but there should be some more thoughtful consequence.
Elmo-
This isn’t about not forgiving. I can forgive Fleishman, just as I could forgive a CHILD for making the same mistake. Giving a zero to a student for a paper is very harsh. Docking a week’s pay is not. What seems hard to explain to our children is why they receive stronger punishment than an adult for the same offense.
This whole “What am we supposed to say to our children!” line is probably as old as Adam and Eve. Here’s a few suggestions..
“Life doesn’t always seem fair, kiddo, but I expect you to do the right thing and not rip off off other people’s thoughts without attribution.”
“If Johnny jumped off a bridge, would you?”
“It’s a tough situation Billy Jr. and smart people have different views about this. I happen to think Dr. Fleishman’s punishment wasn’t severe enough. But others disagree. One of the great things about living in a Democracy is that people can have different views.”
“Why are you showing me your report card? Go show it to your mom, can’t you see I’m busy blogging now!!!”
“One of the things I learned in life little Jamie is that when you see injustice you can either turn a blind eye and accept it or work for change. That’s why I’ve decided to run for School Committee.”
“You got a zero on your paper! Those pr—ks! That does it! Pack-up! We’re moving to Woburn!”
“Giving a zero to a student for a paper is very harsh. Docking a week’s pay is not. ”
Paul that statement is absurd. What standard of measurement are you using to make that declaration. If you asked me to write and polish a speech to be delivered at a commencement I would charge $3-5 K – Probably comparable to a week’s pay?
Did he forget to annotate? Did he feel that he and the gov were on the same team so it was ok? Did he have writers block and hope no one would notice? I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly what happened.
If you are having difficulty explaining this to your kids, you’re having the wrong conversation. A student’s paper vs a commencement speech isn’t an apples to apples comparison no matter what your opinion is on this issue.
Mike & Elmo, we each are entitled to our own opinions. I believe we owe it to the two student reporters to show them that their efforts matter and that some Newton adults agree with their ethics. I do not think they and the graduating seniors should have to remember the capstone event of their Newton education as one with the keynote speech that is defined as plagiarized and the presenter given a lenient punishment.
It is not plagiarism if the originator of the words provides approval / authorization for use of his/her words by another. Since DF has now offered a written acknowledgement and a written apology without any reference to prior approval from Governor Patrick, I would say he failed to get that prior approval. A post approval comment by the governor to cover for DF or DF now saying he had the governor’s approval would be unacceptable at this point.
Elmo and Mike, thank you for your posts. What do you tell your children? That’s up to you, but I have told mine, after discussing exactly what happened without hyperbole or embellishment, that they should continue being true to who they are. They understood that plagiarism is wrong and had consequences before the superintendent’s speech and his actions have done nothing to change that. It is an insult to hard working, intelligent students to assume they will now abruptly change into students who will break the rules just because a person in leadership does. They already know that people in leadership roles have done terrible things, but they haven’t adopted those behaviors. If they are foolish enough to plagiarize a paper, which will be checked as they all are, they will reap the consequences. If it’s a significant part of their grade for the class, the zero will have significant consequences. It will still have been their informed decision.
Mike and Elmo are very conveniently overlooking what happened after the speech. A month long coverup during which the School Committee broke the law, and conspired with Superintendent Fleishman to hide the transgression and the $5000 fine from the public. That’s the part that is unforgivable.
I am considering plagiarizing Catherine Saba’s resignation request petition to Superintendent Brenda Hodges on Change.org. Please keep an eye out for it!
Black or white? (no gray!) It’s either plagiarism or it isn’t.
According to Merriam-Webster, Plagiarism is the act of using another person’s words or ideas without giving credit to that person”.
Janet could you please not misrepresent my comments.
Mike Striar -Does “conveniently overlooking” assert that I have purposely omitted this chapter of the story in order to strengthen my comments? Sorry, no. I was unaware there was a chapter 2 until just now. I don’t think it changes anything I said about chapter 1 however.
My apologies, Mike C. You’re right. I was unfairly implying your omission was deliberate. Your comments are obviously heartfelt, and you have every right to express them in your own way. So let me ask you the obvious… How do you feel about the coverup that took place after the speech?
Mike Striar – Thank you for your post, and for asking for my opinion.
I’ve taken a few minutes to read the TAB editorial. I’m certainly not an expert in this area, however from a common sense perspective it appears that the School Committee screwed up. I actually DO think they should behave like a corporate board, however not like a dysfunctional corporate board.
I have no problem with the closed meetings, and I have no problem with their final decision. The school committee screwed up by not making a timely decision and by not immediately holding a press conference/public meeting to explain the situation and their resolution to the public.
I would assume this would have been the responsibility of the SC Chair and the Mayor.
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@Mike C– Thanks for responding. The most significant difference in our opinions relates to the intent of all that transpired after the speech. You used the term “screwed up” to refer to the School Committee’s handling of the incident, which is similar to the term “fumbled” that Greg used earlier. In my opinion, both those terms significantly miss the mark regarding the SC’s intent. I believe the SC deliberately covered-up the incident and the penalty, in an attempt to push the whole matter deeper into the summer [an old political trick in Newton], when many of the city’s residents are on out-of-town vacations, thus muting the fallout. I believe the proof of this is the way in which SC Chairman Matt Hills scheduled and characterized the post-incident meetings. Hills failed to comply with the State’s open meeting laws, and misstated the listed purpose of those meetings. In my opinion, the public has the right to expect more honesty, integrity and transparency from our elected officials. I believe what Hills did was worse that what Fleishman did, and warrants [at a minimum] his stepping down from his leadership position on the School Committee.
I don’t know Mr Hills or anyone else on the SC. If this series of fumbles and screw-ups was in fact an combined act of cover-up, then it’s a good time to remind school committee Ward representatives that they were elected individually, not as a committee. If the fish stinks, now is the time to say it. There’s no forgiveness later.
I have no doubt that the School Committee’s decision to hold their meetings in executive session to discuss the charges against Fleishman were entirely appropriate under the first exception to the public meeting law which states that they may convene in executive session: “To discuss the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health, rather than professional competence, of an individual, or to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual.” The purpose of conducting the meeting in executive session is to protect the rights and reputation of the individual who is being discussed.
I do not assume that the committee reached a consensus following their first discussion of the issue; indeed I suspect that the reason for meeting several times in executive session reflects how much thought and discussion was given to this issue. Thus, until they concluded their deliberations and resolved whether there would be any disciplinary sanctions, I cannot fathom how they could possibly have issued any public statement concerning the matter consistent with Fleishman’s right not to have disciplinary proceedings aired in public.
I am grateful for the Dr. Fleishman’s apology of July 31. It is never easy for any of us to admit small mistakes or breaches let alone significant ones like the one involved here. It must have been especially hard for the Superintendent since his supervisors and those who should have been his thought partners at such a time appear to have initially failed in guiding him to the correct course of action and means of expression. The July 31 apology took the sting out of the poorly communicated (and written) notices that the Supt. and the SC issued on July 24 and it established a leadership and learning moment that can be referred to in the future. Public officials, both elected and those appointed by the elected, must demonstrate more personal accountability and integrity than we currently require of them. When, however, they do make a mistake or breach we should applaud their recognition that the public is entitled, at a minimum, to an apology and affirmative action to correct or mitigate the wrong.
Lisap — I’m not even sure we know they met more than twice, the first time being the announced “collective bargaining” mtg, and the second the emergency mtg. There was a mention of a telephone mtg, but no detail on with whom, etc. But disagreement on punishment is of course different from disagreement on procedure. Mike Striar’s assertion of cover-up smells clearer when I hear the Chairman saying that he is giving one sentence as Executive Session Minutes, even though (1) they don’t comply with the open mtg rules and (2) no one voted them to be Minutes.
Hoss,
I was relying upon the Tab editorial which suggested that there were 3 meetings to discuss the matter.
As for the minutes of the meeting, again one needs to refer to the purpose of executive session and the balancing of the public’s right to know versus the right of the individual to have personnel matters shielded from public scrutiny. Thus: “The minutes of any executive session, the notes, recordings or other materials used in the preparation of such minutes and all documents and exhibits used at the session, may be withheld from disclosure to the public in their entirety under subclause (a) of clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4, as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer”. See, http://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/open-meeting-law/open-meeting-law-mgl-c-30a-18-25.html#Executive_Sessions
To further complicate the analysis, by definition, under Mass. Gen. Laws. ch. 4 Sec. 7(26)(c) excludes from the definition of public records “personnel and medical files or information; also any other materials or data relating to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy”.
Reasonable minds may disagree as to what is or is not a public record and must or must not be included within those records, which is why the Supervisor of Public records is kept quite busy with complaints. However, in light of the conflicting interests (public v private) I’m not persuaded that there has been any significant or willful violation of the letter or intent of the open meeting and public records laws.
Again I need to preface my comments with the fact that I am no expert on city government and especially the school committee.
But it seems to me that it would take a few meetings in private for the SC to wrap their heads around this issue. As elected representatives I also wouldn’t necessarily expect that they have the skill-set to professionally manage the process for a hot-potato issue such as this.
Ultimately though, isn’t the mayor accountable? Shouldn’t the mayor be the one to hold a press conference to explain to residents what happened and how it was handled?
@Mike Ciolino,
I agree with you on both counts. I would also anticipate that on a personnel issue such as this that the City Solicitor would have had some input, and I would certainly hope and expect that they would know the ins-and-outs of public meeting and public records laws.
Lisap, I’m not a lawyer and I hope Open Meeting laws are written for all elected officials, not just those in practicing law … What did I miss in p. 13 of the link below which says: “Public bodies are required to create and maintain accurate minutes of all meetings, including executive sessions. The minutes, which must be created and approved in a timely manner, must state the date, time and place of the meeting, a list of the members present or absent, and the decisions made and actions taken including a record of all votes.” http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/government/oml/oml-guide.pdf
In addition to minutes, there are procedures for entering Exec Session – specifically in Open Meeting– and the body ultimately needs to approve minutes. Without regard to all that — if a private group posted a sign on the door of a private meeting saying: “Collective Bargaining” couldn’t that group have placed the sign knowing whatever they were talking about in the context of ending with agreement fit the sign? If it was not intentional, wouldn’t a committee member representing folks make a point about it?
Lastly, ultimately there was nothing “private” about the meeting discussions. Nothing. The private part was withheld in June and came to light in July. (The private part being punishment) There should have been no illusion that this matter would remain private.
I’m waiting for approval of minutes.
Lisap, “The minutes of any executive session may be withheld from disclosure to the public as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer.” Withholding the minutes would not defeat the purpose of the meeting would it, because the public now knows the purpose and the outcome?
“… disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Since the public knows the “document” is the speech and it was given in public, as was the Governor’s, how would personal privacy be an issue?
I don’t see any reason the minutes from the Executive Sessions would fall into either of those categories.
Hoss, could this have anything to do with calling Collective Bargaining? (Still seems a little sneaky.)
Purpose 2 for holding an Executive Session
“2. To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel;
Collective Bargaining Sessions: These include not only the bargaining sessions, but also include grievance hearings that are required by a collective bargaining agreement.”
But there’s also this:
“While a public body may agree on terms with individual non-union personnel in executive session, the final vote to execute such agreements must be taken by the public body in open session.”
Just wondering.
Hoss,
I think that if the laws were written so that the average local official could readily apply them, there wouldn’t be a need for the Attorney General to publish explanations and provide training and seminars for elected officials.
There’s no question that they are required to create minutes of the session within a reasonable time. I believe the issue is really how much detail must be included and to what extent the information can be disclosed or withheld. If you continue reading to the bottom of page and along into page 14 it addresses minutes for executive session.
I’m not sure that I’m following your analogy about a private group meeting in private. But as to your last point, I strongly disagree. The nature of the discussions which took place between the school committee and the superintendent did not lose their private character because the public knew that there was a serious allegation against Fleisman and knew that the school committee was meeting to discuss the matter. At this point it does not seem that publication of the minutes would defeat the purpose for the executive session so I would think that the minutes will be disclosed minus any private information which falls into the exemption where the disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy. In other words, I would expect the minutes to reflect mostly what we already know: they convened executive sessions, they decided to impose discipline, the discipline consists of the loss of one week’s pay and the breakdown of the vote.
Marti,
I was writing as you posted, but I think I addressed your first point. As to the second point, yes the speech (the document) is a matter that is known by the public, but the privacy concerns come up within the context of the discussions between the committee and Fleishman and the deliberations by the school committee in determining the appropriate response to the matter.
@Lisap– I seldom find us at odds on public policy matters, and I have as much respect for your opinion as I do for anyone’s on this blog. Let’s set aside the legal issue for a moment, and consider this in purely practical terms. The Superintendent’s speech was delivered in the latter part of June. The School Committee had an undetermined number of meetings to discuss his transgression, and at some point determined a $5000 fine was appropriate. For more than a month nobody says a word about this publicly. There’s no apology from Fleishman, nor presumably was one required of him by the School Committee. It appears that all involved parties were more than happy to keep this matter quite.
Would any of this have come to light if not for the efforts of two student journalists?
Would Fleishman have apologized if it hadn’t come to light?
Again, legal issues aside…
Was this a proper course of action from the School Committee?
Did they display sound decision making by issuing a $5000 fine, without requiring any public statement or apology from Fleishman?
Did the School Committee’s decision reflect or encourage good character, integrity, honesty, transparency, or any of those attributes the public rightfully expects from elected officials and department heads?
In regard to Privacy. If you are serving on board or committee and are faced with a sensitive issue, often privacy provides a working environment that allows the members the space needed to discuss, learn, argue, research, inquire … and finally build consensus and a decision or plan. The process should allow the members to provide a mature, thoughtful, lawful plan of action.
It seems to me that the missing link is that someone made a very poor PR decision that the less said the better. We elect these folks to deal with difficult issues and make decisions. Agree or not, they did their job. It seems to me that immediately (i.e. the same day) that the decision was executed, the Mayor should have been in front of the press explaining the situation and resolution to the public.
If the SC decided (as they did) that it was in the best interest of the city to keep Fleishman on board, the mayor and SC need to explain why, and then publicly show solidarity behind him.
Something along these lines: “Yes he screwed up, but we believe he is ultimately a man of integrity and we believe that he remains the best person for the job. He has my full support”.
Without this public show of support, I don’t know how the Superintendent can possibly do his job. (Or why he would want to)
Even if the mayor disagreed with the decision, it’s his job to sell it and support his staff.
Mike Ciolino
—-
Interesting note: 94% of Americans said it was important to forgive, but 85% said they needed some outside help to be able to forgive. (Gallup)
Excellent summary Mike C. I agree
Lisap — Thanks for your analysis. On one hand, I despise gov’t that acts in secrecy, I’ve been there first hand where officials have met in places like a private room at a restaurant. On the other hand, I respect privacy and if a mtg was billed as private, that can’t change later. Mike C’s suggestion of a news briefing, letting the public know enough that they don’t feel snookered would have been the right thing
(The reference to mtg in a private room had nothing to do w Newton. I have certainly not seen that here.)
Lisp, I disagree with your description of “privacy concerns.” “The nature of the discussions that took place between the School Committee and the Superindent did not lose their private character …” There is no “private character.” Deliberations and discussions are not covered by the exemption. The minutes should include a summary of the discussions on each subject, not a transcript, and a list of documents and materials used.
Personal materials and data (documentary materials) fall under the exemption for personal privacy.
The minutes should also contain a list of the members present or absent and the roll call vote.
In addition, the OML as interpreted by the Attorney General, is detailed without legalize in a Guide put out by the AGO helping the “local average official” be able to follow the law. It contains links to the part of the law being addressed.
http://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/open-meeting-law/attorney-generals-open-meeting-law-guide.html#Executive
The discipline for intentionally violating the law (with a lot of latitude given for being unintentional) is $1000 fine.
Mike Striar, answers to your questions are pretty easy. For the first 2, the answers are basically “we don’t know.” The answers to the last 3 are subjective so the public will differ.
Jim, MA has already instituted the Common Core Standards, created using MA and CA standards as guides, in part, and has not adopted an inferior curriculum. The curriculum selected for other states has nothing to do with MA, other than to help them strive for the excellence of MA.
I didn’t realize I would be ridiculed and name called by adding to the discussion with what I thought was pertinent. I was hesitant to be part of this because I see some posts that, to me, are mean and it doesn’t seem necessary.
@Lassy:
This is an all volunteer blog and sometimes/often comments do slip by that perhaps go too far. However, in your case, I’m having a hard time thinking Elmo’s mild mocking did much harm to your reputation, given that you are commenting anonymously.
@ Lassy – Not sure what post you are referring to. I agreed with your post and what happened to your friends daughter was wrong.
Fleischman needs to resign – I am sure we could get Jim Marini back to be an interim and get our schools back to a respectable level. We need someone of Integrity and Honesty to run our schools. It is the wrong example to send to our children and to the staff of the NPS.
Joanne, if Lassie’s friend’s daughter plagiarized and was given a zero for the paper or project she submitted, then it was not wrong. Telling the parents, giving a zero on the assignment and starting to keep track of her submissions are exactly right. The rules the students are to follow are still the rules. The zero will only be significant to her GPA if the assignment was a substantial part of her grade. All students from third grade up know it is wrong to plagiarize and in high school, this is the consequence.
@Marti– One thing we know for sure… Neither the School Committee or David Fleishman said a word about the incident publicly, until after they were outed by the two student journalists. That’s why I’m taking Fleishman’s “apology” with a grain of salt. He didn’t apologize for more than a month until the story went public. Make of that what you will.
Also, not to drift too far afield. But I am 100% in agreement with Jim’s assessment of Common Core, the “achievement gap,” and the dumbing down of Newton’s public school system that has resulted from standardized curriculums. At another time, on another thread, I’d be happy to go into details about my 50 years of involvement with Newton’s public school system.
Marti- YOU cannot have different rules in the same NPS System for different Groups/Classes of people. So one rule for the Administration and one for the Faculty and One for the students?? What kind of system is that? Funny but I thought we changed “those rules” years ago.
I dont disagree that Lassys friend got a Zero. But in September when another kid gets a zero for plagarism we will have Different rules for different groups. That is what is WRONG.
Fleischman NEEDS TO RESIGN.
I think “closing the achievement gap” is intended to entail raising the achievement of those at the bottom rather than bring everyone to some level of muddle in the middle.
My very first schools blog post was on this topic in fact. Ah, memories…
I was sarcastically called Lassy the Upright by Elmo. Didn’t seem necessary. I was just throwing it out there for discussion that my neighbor’s kid got a pretty harsh punishment for doing the same thing, and she is only 15 – seemed worthwhile to contemplate but maybe not. Next time I’ll just read other people’s comments.
Aye Caramba, here we go again.
Joanne, Of course you need to have different rules. An administrator is working within a wholly different paradigm than a student. You can’t give the superintendent a zero – how ridiculous. And if you feel that he should resign, a comparable punishment for Lassys friend would be expulsion.
The Superintendent works for the School Committee and the Mayor. They have decided that a fine is the appropriate punishment and they are representing your interest.
And for those who say: “what kind of message we are sending our kids” or “how do I explain this to my kids” … The missing piece is that the Mayor/SC has not shared a compelling case for why the punishment fit the crime that will make sense to students.
@Lassy– Hang in there. Village 14 is a great forum for discussing the community we all share. Most of the people here are passionate about Newton, so things get a little rowdy sometimes. I’d rather see you post your thoughts and just ignore people’s responses, rather than not post at all. I really hope you’ll stay with us.
Mike – Do you have kids in the NPS? I would love to know how your kids are handling this – because at my house they have dont want a cheat as the head of the Schools in Newton. You cannot have different rules for different groups- PLAGARISM especially in Education – is one of the BIG Issues that involve Honesty and Integrity – no matter if you are a student or an administrator. Funny how if you google what has happened to other educators that did what Fleischman did – they RESIGNED or were forced out. I guess as usual Newton is different.
And as for the Mayor – has he publically commented or has he hidden behind the “personel issue”??
IMHO – He and the SC did not want a protracted lawsuit out of this and that is why they gave that laughable fine and met in CLosed meetings.
Sorry, I just dont buy your argument that there are 2 sets of rules depending on the who you are in the heirarchy of the NPS. That my friend is setting up a real issue of different rules for different classes of people.
And Lassy – we need more people like you to post what really happens in the NPS when someone Plagarizes.
Just now
http://newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20140804/NEWS/140808888/11436/NEWS
Per Village 14 commenting rules, a comment has been removed from this thread because of an invalid email address. The commenter is encouraged to post again with a valid email address.
As I said above, my kids have seen authority figures in the news who have done ignorant and unlawful things and then watched them carry on. We have had these discussions. None of this has anything to do with who they are or how they act. They didn’t abruptly change from being hard working, studious, respectful, law abiding people because others aren’t.
Again, as I said above: If they are foolish enough to plagiarize a paper, which will be checked as they all are, they will reap the consequences. If it’s a significant part of their grade for the class, the zero will have significant consequences. It will still have been their informed decision.
Lassy, your friend received the punishment printed in the Student Handbook and widely known and acknowledged. She was not treated unfairly nor was she punished harshly. Since she is just 15, she is reasonably a freshman or sophomore so her GPA is not written in stone. Hopefully she will not submit another plagiarized assignment.
I have no idea what “those rules” means.
Following school rules is not predicated on what others do. If this is a problem in your family and rules are not followed there will be consequences. Rules for students will not be changed because the superintendent plagiarized, didn’t acknowledge it until he was called out publicly, was disciplined by his supervisors or wrote a letter of apology. It seems we approach things with our children in different ways. Life will never be fair. There will always be different sets of rules. Authority figures are not perfect and never will be.
Thanks Mike. Great article.
What kind of precedence will this special fine set? If someone on the City Hall help desk swears at a resident, instead of being fired, shouldn’t he ask for a fine? I would! Will this add a legal runaround when (non-union) staff gets fired?
Great question, Hoss. I think that speaks to the School Committee’s judgement, relying exclusively on a fine. I would have thought a requirement for a public apology would be appropriate… Unless the SC never planned for the public to be aware of the incident or fine.
After reviewing the plagiarism charge in question, I really think this is a mountain out of a molehill. Let me ask you all a question: What are the 10 most important aspects of the Superintendent’s job? Can any of you honestly say that giving this poor excuse for a speech could be ranked in the top 20? This speech was entertainment and tradition. If it was so vital, why wasn’t each high school given a separate speech? Why wasn’t it published in the newspaper? Or online? Let me answer for you. Because it didn’t matter. Would anyone have missed the speech? Can anyone tell me the topic from the previous year? Can anyone tell me their college commencement speech?
Look, I understand this was part of his job, to entertain the student body and the collective parents, to offer up words of wisdom on what is an important day. And he did that. But the sentences you claim are plagiarism aren’t some wonderful and unique wisdom, most of them talk about twitter and connectivity and technology, themes that have been a focus point of graduation speeches for a few decades now. And can we acknowledge the governor doesn’t write his speeches? Hell, he may not even read them before he says them, I certainly know of some policitians who rely on their staff that way.
So we’ve got some platitudes, repeated twice, some of which were originally written by some poor 24 year old speechwriter at 2 am. And Fleishman either heard them and liked them and incorporated them into his speech, or read them and decided to copy the sentiments. Judging by the changes in wordplay in many of the cases, I’m judging it was intentional. Maybe he felt that he had changed the words enough that is wasn’t plagiarism. Or maybe he thought he wouldn’t get caught.
So we clearly have a violation of some sort. Of ethics? Yes, but a minor one in my view. Of professional care and responsibility? Yes, but a minor one for the community and a major one for his career. He has been punished 10 times over for this infraction. His mistake will follow him. Today all such mistakes do. Google Fleishman in 10 years and his mistake will be there. His actions, the delayed apology, the community reaction, all of that will be there. So for those of you who say he has not been punished I say you’ve never lived through a mistake or a public shaming. Because if you had, you’d know that the real punishment is that public sense of shame, of knowing you made a mistake and that you messed up and disappointed your community and the kids you are supposed to give guidance to (even insipid tired guidance that finds its way into graduation speeches). That sense of shame doesn’t go away, and it doesn’t really fully heal.
I won’t even mention a $5,000 fine. Yes, he makes a good living, but $5,000 is $5,000.
So why was this a minor ethical violation in my view? This wasn’t cheating at his job or his family life. There is no implied or written contract between a commencement speaker and his audience. It is supposed to be original, it is supposed to be interesting, and for the love of all things holy, it is supposed to be relatively short. This is not an excuse for his behavior. It was wrong. But I return to what the superintendent’s job actually entails. And who was harmed by this behavior? Governor Patrick? His 24 year speechwriter trying to get a better gig writing speeches for a senator? His audience?
Let’s say it was the audience. That seems to be the easiest answer. The poor impressionable minds of the newton school system will be crushed by the hypocrisy. Poppycock. If we haven’t taught our high school kids about the complexity of situations like this, we haven’t served them well. The Superintendent made a mistake, he admitted his violation (delayed, I’ll get to that in a second), he was punished in the court of public opinion, his career and his pocketbook. Life moves on. Our kids can understand that. My kids can understand that and they are below the age of 10. So the hypocrisy isn’t the harm faced by the audience. I guess the harm to the audience is the fact that Fleishman broke the social convention that his words were to be fully original, and that he would specify his sources. He should have done better. But I say this is a minor ethical violation, apologized for and hopefully now forgiven.
For the journalists in our blog audience this will come as a shock, because journalists are trained to treat this as the 3rd rail of life. Plagiarism is death to your journalism career. If your words are your career, plagiarism is stealing. That is a major ethical violation. But if we can’t learn to see shades of grey in this community we are failing our students and our general community. There HAS to be a difference between what Fleishman did and what the Buzzfeed gentlemen did/what Stephen Glass did. This shouldn’t be the 3rd rail of Fleishman’s career, it should provide a hefty shock, no more. Those of you asking for a resignation seem to have taken this mistake as somehow showing the full extent of Fleishman’s character. To you it isn’t a mistake, but THE mistake from which there can be no recovery.
Fine. Some of you can’t excuse an ethical violation, minor or major. That is your choice. But I bet you some of you who find this to be worthy of resignation, of “death to Fleishman’s career” are carrying some anger towards Fleishman into the conversation. I barely had heard of the man before this conversation. So as an outside, to fire him over this just seems reactionary and silly.
Two final points: One, those of you asking how he will discipline the students when the plagiarize aren’t appreciating the difference in situations. The student that plagiarizes is cheating himself/herself and his/her classmates. They are breaking a far more serious contract with the school community, and they deserve to be punished. But I want that punishment balanced out with mercy and understanding. Getting a zero on the assignment seems pretty merciful, at least where I come from. So I’d think Fleishman could point out the punishment that he received, the forgiveness granted after apology, and tell the student that life will go on. And then punish the student accordingly.
Regarding the delay, I think our school committee and Fleishman could have handled this better. I’m sure there was a hope this would blow over and go away. I’m glad it didn’t. But anyone looking for a “scandal” is blowing this way out of proportion. It was embarrassing to Fleishman. No one else was harmed here, we aren’t talking theft or abuse or anything like that. Why not take some time and be deliberative?
Just my lengthy 2 cents. Folks need to take a deep breath. And please, give your kids a bit more credit.
fignewtonville – And I thought I was the only one who actually used the word poppycock. You sure you didn’t steal that word from me? Well said mate. Every time a new person joins this thread can we simply re-run what you wrote?
fignewtonville, having not seen DF’s contract, I can only guess/hope that somewhere in the verbiage of the 10 most important aspects of his job there would be reference to being a positive, professional role model for his staff and the teachers at least if not also for the student body. I am guessing your vision of a positive, professional role model does not match mine.
I do agree with you that the sentences in question are not “unique wisdom”, that is the problem. As I suggested in the first V14 blog about this topic, all we need to do is abolish the penalty for plagiarism for everyone since it does not appear to be a big deal to you. It would be one less stress point placed upon our students. Let’s focus on the important stuff, whatever that is now that ethics would be marginalized.
I believe I stole the use of the word poppycock from my 10th grade English teacher. Sometimes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Ah, the delicious irony (especially considering Poppycock is a caramel popcorn brand sold at Shaw’s as well)…
And Greg, I changed my email address but I don’t check it that frequently. But it is still the same ol’ Figgy.
Good to see you here Fignewtonville. What a breath of fresh air – I know I stole that from someone, just don’t know who. I particularly like the “give the kids a little more credit” ending. So succinct. I’ve been trying to say that with too many words. Thanks.
fignewtonville — I didn’t read past your first paragraph, my fault. Is there a reason the school system of Newton as headed by an individual could not generate some sincere thoughts to the Newton’s graduates? If I needed to do it on one day notice this path of shortcuts would not occur to me. But a career individual?
Hoss, it was a speech made up of far more that the 6 instances in question. Did you read the entire speech? As for a career individual, again, I question the importance of the speech vs. everything else he has to do in his job. I could see a speech by the school principal, who is with the kids every day.
And no worries about not getting through the whole post, I was wordy.
And Patrick, I agree he wasn’t the best role model here. How could I not? But I think your view of what happens after that conclusion is different than mine. And your point about abolishing the penalty for plagiarism is putting the discussion into the context of a black and white judgment call. My point is that there are shades of grey. Do you recognize the difference between the student who doesn’t attribute 5 quotes to a professor from the student who steals his paper from an online paper mill? Shades of grey there, no? How about the student who writes a short story in the style of his favorite author? Or favorite poet? Plagiarism? How about the rabbi who gives a terrific sermon, using as his base a book of sermons he got from his rabbinical school, and adapting it to fit modern times? Or the priest who gives a homily and does the same, stating from memory the lines he heard growing up from his mentor?
I’m a big believer in shades of grey. I think we can say Fleishman did wrong but should be forgiven partially because we can recognize the difference between an ethical lapse and having no ethics.
And I’d like to think that most of the time I err on the side of forgiveness and mercy. Lord knows others have done that for me. Perhaps this will make him a better superintendent. I hope it does.
fignewtonville — It was a 3 minute address among other uninspiring 3 minute addresses – why the Superintendent was in the middle I can’t guess… But a full year is a long time — either he had sincere thoughts to say to the 2014 class or it played out as it did. The act is now by us, the analysis of the School Committee’s role in transparent gov’t is not.
Looking ahead to next year….
Tell me – is it a long-standing tradition that the superintendent speaks at the high school graduations in Newton? Because my daughter is graduating from South next year and I would prefer that David Fleishman NOT speak at next year’s graduation.
This is not because I think he needs further punishment. It’s because if he speaks next year the focus will be on him, not on the graduates. I think that if he chooses to step into the background next year it will help the community move on from this. Besides, if he finds this task too difficult or tedious to complete without poaching platitudes, he should be grateful to have an excuse to step aside.
I have missed out on most of the discussion of this topic and have tried to skim some of the 100 preceding comments. While I do not think he should be fired, his and the school committee’s handling of the situation, as much as the original offense, cause me to doubt their good sense. I disagree that this is a “mole hill” – not in an organization that punishes plagiarism when committed by the least powerful (the students). This is only partially mitigated by the fact that he would gain nothing personally from his plagiarism. But I think it’s time to put the pitchforks and torches away – save your energy for the next school committee election.
@Mike Striar,
You have asked some excellent, thoughtful questions and I’m not sure that I can do them justice without turning into a blog hog, so rather than go through them individually I’ll try to give my overall impression on this. I am very, very troubled by what Fleishman did. In talking with my kids (2 still at NNHS) they made a point of telling me that at school there are posters everywhere addressing plagiarism, what it is, and why it is wrong. The incident bothers them perhaps even more than it bothers me. As to whether the school committee would or would not have acted without publication, I just don’t want to speculate about that, because I think that how one answers that question is going to be shaded by assumptions about their motivation and I just don’t want to engage in that sort of second guessing.
What I do know is that we have a group of elected officials, several in their first year, who bring different skill sets and strengths to the table, and I do not know whether any of them have any prior experience in dealing with employee disciplinary issues which is the heart of the matter they had to address. I suspect that there was a bit of a learning curve that had to be overcome, and given what appear to be some missteps I have to question whether they were receiving good advice from the City Solicitor’s office. In resolving the discipline issue, I’m going to assuming for sake of discussion that the disciplinary resolution was consistent with his contract. Given the number of meetings on the question, I do not believe that there was a quick consensus on discipline. Rather, I suspect that there were very different views about what would be appropriate and that they needed time to reach consensus. I suspect that the members of the board were as taken aback by this as I was. Ultimately, I think that the motivations ascribed to the committee will shade how one views the entire matter. I do not know every member of this board, but I do know the character of several quite well. Thus, I do not believe that the committee was motivated to try to sweep this matter under the rug but, rather, were trying to proceed thoughtfully and deliberately in the face of deeply troubling allegations.
As to whether this was an appropriate resolution, again I think the starting point for that is Fleishman’s contract with the city and employment law is really not my forte. Were I making this decision, my deliberations would have included his overall performance, whether there had been any prior incidents of misconduct, and whether dismissing him would have caused more harm in the short term than keeping him on.
All interesting points Lisap. Personally, I appreciate that you are not trying to assign motives to the School Committee without knowing the complete story.
The thing the doesn’t sit right with me about this coverup theory is that the School Committee comprises nine reasonably smart people, including a very savvy mayor. The assumption that they thought this would never come out seems preposterous to me. I don’t believe that nine people collectively concluded that Jordan was never going to say anything to anybody else, and I don’t believe they were trying to hide anything. They must have had reasons for handling it the way they did — maybe they miscalculated along the way, but it seems unlikely that their intent was coverup.
@Gail: So if it wasn’t a coverup (and I’m willing to presume it wasn’t, until proven otherwise), it does seem to be a pretty bad miscalculation, given that here we are nearly two weeks after Matt Hills said the decision was behind the School Committee, people are still talking about it.
It seems to me the sooner we get more details from those executive sessions the better.
Continuing to describe students in words such as”the least powerful (the students)” or “different classes” is treating them as if they were serfs badly ruled by a powerful Lord. Students have many rights and responsibilities outlined in a student handbook, caring hard working teachers who go way past their job descriptions to help students succeed, clubs and activities geared toward their interests, and even breaking the rules is treated on a case by case basis (shades of grey, if you will). Several people review a student’s work if a determination is made it was plagiarized and decide the gravity of the offence (e.g. a few comments or the whole paper) to determine discipline required, i.e. in a lesser, first offence may give the student a zero for the assignment, tell the parents, but not average it into their GPA or put it in the student’s file.
Remember it was students who noticed the plagiarized comments, told the Superintendent, told the English department head and after they decided they were not getting the results they wanted, published the story in one of the student papers. In addition, in the article just posted in the Tab, it is students who are continuing to make their voices heard. Read what they have to say. They are not persecuted underlings in a fiefdom. They deserve and are demanding more credit than that.
@ Bruce B
I doubt you will get Fleischman not to speak at your child’s Graduation. It is the Tradition in Every school that the Head of the school system addresses the graduating class. So I doubt you will get your wish.
“Were I making this decision, my deliberations would have included his overall performance, whether there had been any prior incidents of misconduct…”
Very reasonable approach. Should the students be given the same consideration? Why are they automatically given a zero, leading to a very low grade in many circumstances, with overall harm to their GPA? If a CHILD panics in a moment of weakness, do they not deserve the same consideration?
I hear many folks making reasonable comments about Fleishman’s situation, but haven’t heard anyone justify the discrepancy in how harsh we treat our students without any consideration for their individual situations. Still seems weird that we’re holding children to a higher standard than adults– typically children are the ones that are given consideration and understanding.
Actually Paul, I’ve seen multiple comments suggesting that the damage done to David Fleishman’s reputation that is now forever discoverable online via Google, is pretty darn harsh. (In contrast, when a student is caught plagiarizing the incdent is a private matter between the kid, the teacher and perhaps the parents. And truly since we don’t have details about these situations we don’t know of there ever are special considerations.)
Gail — Did you happen to watch the the regular SC mtg from July 15? The Superintendent walked the SC through a document he created called “Superintendent Assessment” (see link below). The doc defines expectations and outcomes for the Superintendent position over the coming year. It is effectively a performance measurement tool.
So if the nine reasonably smart people had disagreements on the Super’s past conduct and/or appropriate sanctions around conduct, why didn’t anyone raise their hand and attempt to add language about ethics and such? Or do an “Epstein” (saying that respectfully), and make direct points in an agitated tone, letting on there was some unclosed business at hand? They walked through the doc in such a routine, dry assembly, that no disagreement was detected.
http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/sites/default/files/users/44/Superintendent%20Assessment.pdf
But Greg – I am sure that you know that if you are or know someone who is clever/computer savvy you can get things hidden even on the internet.
It might be very difficult with something like this – but I have seen it happen in other cases where lets say an arrest is no longer relocatable on the Internet. But you never know he might be able to get it all hidden away.
@Joanne: Ridiculous. There’s no way anyone can hide this.
Greg,
Fleishman wasn’t punished by the School Committee by being publicly exposed– that was done by the students. The actual penalty was a week’s pay. That is far less harsh than the penalty to students who are caught for plagiarism.
We’ll unfortunately never know what the School Committee would have done had the students not been aware and gone public. All we have is their actual actions.
Paul: With all due respect, if a child cheats or plagiarizes, how can you give them anything but a zero? I know that the Newton schools are competitive, but do you propose they get to retake the test or redo the paper with no punishment? How about the students who got their work in on time and didn’t cheat?
Most schools would give a zero AND suspend the student, putting the incident on the student’s permanent record. You are worried about a ZERO and a GPA. Think about trying to get into college having to report that you cheated on every college application. THAT is HARSH. What I’ve heard Newton schools do is the bare minimum. These aren’t 5 years old. They understand what it means to cheat. I fully understand that life pressure can get to these kids, and that our schools are way too competitive, even unhealthy in that regard. But the answer to that CAN’T be to excuse cheating or plagiarism. But I think we agree that we don’t want to ruin a kids academic future and beat them down over a youthful indiscreation. A zero on an assignment and a lower grade that might come from that is a minor disappointment and a lesson learned hopefully. A kid can recover from that, and I hope we keep these issues private. But to say that we treat our kids harsher because we punish them correctly and with discretion seems like a distortion of what our high school education system is supposed to be about.
And I say this as someone who got in trouble a lot in high school. I depended on the kindness of my teachers, even if at the time I thought they were being harsh and unfair jerks. It is amazing what time and perspective does. What is that old Twain quote? ‘When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
Any of us here posting that the punishment isn’t harsh enough or not equal to what are kids are given for the same crime are just plain being foolish.
None of us were in the meetings, none of us know what criteria was used, none of us talked with DF first hand, heard his explanation of how it happened, saw his body language. It could be that the SC simply thought keeping him on board was in the best interest of the city – for whatever reason. If you don’t like it, vote for different people next time.
So $5,000 isn’t enough money? Does Not cause enough pain? This is a smart city, someone should be able to come up with a way to calculate his level of pain. Maybe he should spend his weekends doing all our laundry. Would that make those of you who are angry that he made your job as a parent more difficult because you’ve lied to you kids and told them that life was fair feel better?
“Smart talented people”, People that you and I chose to make these decisions, have done their jobs. And we’re going to judge, criticise and hand out punishment without any context or due process? If our kids are paying attention to this issue, they’re also paying attention to how we behave.
Good one, fignewtonville. I quoted this and other quips from Mark Twain in the commencement speech I gave at NNHS two years ago. With proper attribution, of course. 😉
@Ted
You may clearly state that you are “so proud” to be in good standing when it comes to citing your sources!
fignewtonville– There are a number of options that would be lesser than a zero. Re-do the paper/test with a full grade penalty (An “A” paper gets a B), have them do an additional assignment on the perils of plagiarism, community service, etc. For a student with a strong record to date, a C or a D grade (which is the likely result from a zero on the plagiarized assignment) all but prevents admissions to top-tier schools. A zero is unquestionably a harsher penalty than Fleishman has received. And again– they are children, he is an adult.
My personal inclination would be for Fleishman to have a tougher penalty, rather than lessening the students penalty. I’m merely pointing out the unequal treatment between the two, and asking folks like Mike Ciolino, who once again does a nice job advocating for context and due process, why our students don’t merit the same consideration.
Breaking the rules is treated on a case by case basis (shades of grey, if you will). Several people review a student’s work if a determination is made it was plagiarized and decide the gravity of the offence (e.g. a few comments or the whole paper) to determine discipline required, i.e. in a lesser, first offence may give the student a zero for the assignment and tell the parents, but not average it into their GPA or put it in the student’s file.
“in a lesser, first offence may give the student a zero for the assignment and tell the parents, but not average it into their GPA”
Not sure what you mean here, clarification would be helpful. I assume a zero on the assignment would impact the grade in the class, which would clearly impact GPA. What do you mean that it would “not average into their GPA?”
From Buzzblog’s Paul McNamarra 7/25/14 – I’m not familiar with this blog, but he makes a good point.
“The most interesting part is that it turns out that it wasn’t the Internet that tripped up the plagiarizer, as happens so regularly these days. Nor was it the mainstream media or a blogger who discovered his misdeed.
Instead it was Newton South High School’s student newspaper, The Lion’s Roar, that broke the news. A recently graduated student, Jordan Cohen-Kaplan, had heard Gov. Deval Patrick’s speech at Boston University in May and recognized the similarities in Fleishman’s commencement address June 9. Cohen-Kaplan was a co-author of the story in the student newspaper.
A great piece of reporting, certainly, and kudos to the administration of Newton South High School for making sure the students were allowed to publish it.
Paul, from Newton High School Plagiarism Consequences/ Penalties:
“If a teacher and department head believe that plagiarism has occurred, they will meet with the student. When they determine that the student has committed a first offense:
Student receives a zero for the assignment. The teacher and department head decide whether the student deserves a chance to redo the work and how the zero will affect the term grade.
Teacher or department head informs the housemaster. The housemaster then keeps records by student of each offense without putting an official letter in the student’s file.
Teacher, department head or housemaster will inform the parent(s) or guardian(s).”
Paul, if that ONE assignment or paper was such a huge component of the grade, perhaps a nuanced action is called for. But I’d also say that plagiarizing a term paper is different that a minor assignment. And going to a paper mill (and thus doing no work) is different than forgetting to attribute an expert.
In order for it to be a punishment it has to actually punish. You are using the case of a minor transgression and saying the punishment is draconian. I think many kids under pressure will take additional risks if they know all they will get is a slap on the wrist and a one grade reduction. But I think we are in agreement that all punishments should be appropriate in scope, not ruin a future, and be done with the goal of in the end helping that student make better decisions in the future. I don’t want to fail a student, but I also don’t want to fail them by teaching them that cheating to get ahead is not really their fault, that is was the pressure that made them do it. Most kids don’t cheat….
As for getting into top-tier schools, character comes into play at some point, does it not? And should our goal for our kids be to make sure they get into top-tier schools, or to set them up with the right life lessons? I’m all for letting kids dig themselves out of a hole and I want the punishment to be right-sized. But college admission is only a small part of the equation in my book.
And one final thing, I really believe parents do their kids a huge disservice when they push them too hard towards those top-tier schools. I went to one. It was great. Most of my friends didn’t. They loved their college experience every bit as much as I did. You know what makes a difference in college. Hard work, finding the right major, applying yourself and not taking shortcuts. Shortcuts don’t work as well when the work gets hard. As someone once told me in high school “the habits I form now will be the habits that stay with me the rest of my life”. I think that is true, and why there is more to think about here than just the college admission aspect, as important as that might be.
Ted H-M spoke at the North graduation a few years ago?
Just curious – how many adults are “trotted out” to speak at Newton HS graduations? I assume (and hope) that the principal speaks. I would think that one more adult would be enough, but another commenter stated that the superintendent always speaks too. Can we get Ted to speak next year in place of Fleishman?
(as stated above, this idea is not to punish Fleishman but to avoid the distraction of having him speak as the graduation should be focused on the students and not turn into a media event).
“In order for it to be a punishment it has to actually punish.”
EXACTLY.
$5,000 fine from a 4 year, million dollar contract? Not so much.
I agree with much of what you write, but you can’t have it both ways. That’s been my point here.
Bruce B, as long as I have been on the Board of Aldermen, aldermen or school committee members whose children are graduating from the high school are invited to give a brief commencement speech. It has been an honor and privilege for me, albeit a source of acute embarrassment for my three children on their graduation days. Each time I have tried to make a few personal remarks and, knowing my own limitations as a writer and speaker, I offer words of inspiration written by others. This year, I chose an excerpt from RFK’s “Ripples of Hope” speech. Two years ago, I offered some humorous pieces of advice from Mark Twain culled in part from his “Advice to Little Girls” and “Advice to Little Boys.” Four years ago, I read a poem by Kent Keith entitled the “Paradoxical Commandments” (which, coincidentally, is often wrongly attributed to Mother Teresa).
I am not a close friend or confidante of Dr. Fleishman, but I think I know him well enough to say that he must be truly mortified by all of this, has shown remorse and is anxious to earn back the respect of everyone who was disappointed or let down by his actions. Consequently, I am willing to give him a chance to redeem himself. I hope you will too.
Unless their infraction is one that directly harms another person, everyone is entitled to a second chance. As I said from the beginning, this is a classic case of the cover-up being worse than the crime. It crosses the line when elected officials break the rules and conspire with each other, to keep a secret from the public that they are entitled to know.
That being said… I think too much damage has been done to Fleishman’s reputation, not to mention his pride. I can’t see him continuing to be a productive Superintendent in Newton. I believe he’s gone before the end of the year. But the person who really should be gone is Matt Hills. He violated the public trust. If the City Charter had a recall provision, I believe he would be impeached. Strangely enough, my opinion of the School Committee has remained entirely unchanged through this plagiarism incident. I thought they lacked good judgment before. I know they lack good judgement now. I hope other people come to recognize that as well.
Paul, that is exactly where we disagree. Your view is that the 5K is Fleishman’s punishment. My view is that he cost himself hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of his career, his pride and his reputation. And if comparing this to a student infraction, I believe it would compare to the most inconsequential form of plagiarism.
Mike, as for this being a cover-up, I just don’t see it. But I do recall you posting dozens of messages regarding the school start time, and I recall you have some righteous anger regarding the fact that schools start too early, which causes depression and other bad things for young adults (and I happen to agree that high schools should start later and sports should come second, not first, with such scheduling). But due to your anger with the players involved, I take your opinion with a grain of salt. It isn’t hard to make yourself believe that your enemy remains your enemy, it is much harder to recognize that your enemy isn’t your enemy 100% of the time.
Or in the words of a famous philosopher:
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. (and sometimes ordinary disorganization is just ordinary disorganization).
@fig– Sometimes a cover-up is just a cover-up. If you want to believe this was a result of “disorganization” that’s your right. I believe you are being naive. Look at the facts. Look at the timeline. The School Committee met to discuss this in executive session under the auspices of “collective bargaining.” They have not released the minutes. They did not require a public apology from Fleishman. More than a month went by without a word about this publicly, until the Lion’s Roar broke the story. Then and only then, did the SC release a statement and Fleishman apologize. It walks and talks like a cover-up to me.
fig-
How has he cost himself hundreds of thousands of dollars? His pride should take a hit– he cheated. As for reputation– the school committee is giving him a chance to rehabilitate it– that sounds like more opportunity than punishment.
PS Google “cheating in schools” and do a little reading. Your statement earlier that most students don’t cheat is actually incorrect– most students do cheat at some point. That’s the critical point of this whole episode. The School Committee actions, both in being inappropriately secretive and the mild punishment, are teaching kids more about the “real world” than anything they learn in school. As you’ll see, kids justify cheating as a “real world” phenomenon– one that Newton is now reinforcing.
Marti–
That policy seems fairly reasonable. To the group: Is that how its actually practiced? Posters with knowledge of examples seem to suggest an automatic zero, versus the deliberative approach afforded in the policy. Is anyone aware of a student who was given such consideration?
SO how is this current situation different from this?
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2008/02/dont_call_it_plagiarism.html
It is Different because Deval Patrick was on the Presidents team and last time I checked the Governor wasn’t Fleischmans Writing Assistant. And that brings up an Important point – Has anyone asked the Governor what he thought about the Superintendent plagiarizing his BU Speech?
what does ‘on the presidents team’ mean? If working toward a common goal its ok to plagiarize?
It is my understanding that the Governor was part of his election team.
Personally I think that Fleischman should resign. The apple to apple comparison is the Mansfield Superintendent.
The bottom line unless Deval is on the NPS payroll – Fleischman plagiarized. He is the head of the Educational System in Newton and he has ZERO Integrity because of this. He needs to go.
Obama responded to the accusation by saying, “The notion that I had plagiarized from somebody who’s one of my national co-chairs, who gave me the line and suggested that I use it, I think is silly.” Clinton received a round of boos from the crowd when she responded, “Lifting whole passages from someone else’s speeches is not change you can believe in; it’s change you can Xerox.
– lifted from wikipedia
And if the town of Mansfield jumped off a bridge would you do that too? (sorry, the set up for that was just too perfect to resist)
Paul, I am aware of several students whose first offense was determined to be relatively minor (not from an on-line paper mill, a short paragraph with just a few words changed, sentences a few times, etc.) and were treated leniently. A zero averaged into a term grade is never just an automatic for a first offence. There is always a discussion to determine the discipline necessary. The penalty for a second offense is emphasized., though. Teachers want students to learn how to succeed in life and try to use an error in judgement as a teaching moment whether it is big or small.
I also meant to say that, to my knowledge, only one poster, Lassy, posted that a neighbor’s child received a zero without any description of the incident, not posters plural with examples plural.
Mike- No I wouldn’t jump off a bridge – but if it seems that almost all of the Superintendents and Principals who get caught plagiarizing resign – then why not Fleischman?
Oh I know why – we are Newton and we do things differently.
Mike I asked you earlier on a different posting – What do your kids think about this issue? My kids dont want a plagiarist heading their school.
@Joanne — The TAB has asked Gov. Patrick for comment several times without receiving a response.
Thanks Emily
I doubt Patrick will ever respond.
@Joanne No kids here.
But I have 26 first cousins, 3 nieces, 2 nephews and ran a residential group home for ED teens for 4 years.
In life we all constantly have to adapt and learn to make situations work for us even though we don’t agree. At the end of the day, we are responsible for making our lives work, no matter what.
I get that your kids ‘don’t want a plagiarist heading their school.’ They have chosen to take that position. And if they want, they can choose to use this create lots of additional drama and negativity. Free country.
From the Tab article, Allie Lushan a senior at NS chooses a different position. She said, “Everyone makes mistakes and all he can do is learn from it now.” “He’s been a great person in the community,” Lushan said. “I know that he’s always so welcoming. He visits schools and knows everyone’s name and he can recognize everyone’s face. I know that he does genuinely care about the schools and the education system.”
I don’t know the guy, but all accounts are that this incident was an aberration – That he is better known for making a significant, positive contribution to the community.
Maybe I see this different because writing is a part of my daily work – And especially after many years in a career, I can understand how this error might happen. It doesn’t necessarily come from a place of desperation, laziness or trying to get away with something. Often when I write, I use a thought or idea that im inspired by as a starting point and then develop it into something totally original. I can totally see how easy it would be to get distracted, over-look or even forget where the original words came from.
But back to your kids … I think if they are polarizing around this issue, you might want to remind them that this guy is not a monster. There isn’t a lot of joy in choosing to live in a black and white world. They need to learn how to choose to say “I don’t like what he did, It made me angry, but he has also done a lot of good and I have the power to choose to continue to work with him because it’s more productive for me to do so”.
Funny Joanne, I asked my elementary school children the same question, namely if their principal or teacher did something wrong and cheated, would you give them another chance to do better or ask for a new teacher. They looked at me like I was crazy. My oldest said “do you think they learned their lesson and would do better next time?”
Pretty good standard. I think yes.
And Joanne, I get the feeling that the Super wasn’t exactly viewed in a positive fashion by you and yours prior to this little kerfuffle. We all come at this from different angles. If he was on thin ice before, I could see how you’d think this is the last straw. No one is saying this was a moment to be proud of.
And with that, I think I’m done posting on this topic.