FHS Academic Integrity

The well being of the school community depends on each student accepting responsibility for his or her personal conduct in both social and academic endeavors. In this regard, students are expected to attend Falcon High School ready to learn and in their learning demonstrate the ability to discern right from wrong. A student's moral awareness as it applies to the academic environment is foundational to his or her success at Falcon, where the student must engage in an honest and integral pursuit of knowledge. Academic honesty requires that students produce work that is their own. In contrast, academic dishonesty is a student's attempt to claim and show possession of knowledge and/or skills that he or she does not possess.

Academic Dishonesty

The following actions are reflective of academic dishonesty and are subject to disciplinary action by teacher, school, and/or district:

- Using dishonest, deceptive or fraudulent means to obtain or attempt to obtain credit for academic work;

- Using notes, aids, or another student's assistance to complete a test, a project or other assignment in a way other than that expressly permitted by the teacher. Unless otherwise directed by the teacher, students should accomplish all assignments individually;

- Looking at another student's test, answer sheet, or other materials;

- Talking during a test. The teacher cannot be expected to determine the content of a private conversation between students, therefore, all talking during tests is considered cheating;

- Copying from or allowing another student to copy from a test, homework, or other coursework -which is not intended to be collaborative in nature;

- Tampering with an instructor's records of grades or scores;

- Plagiarizing materials; that is taking the specific or general substance of another person's work and offering it as one's own work without giving credit to the original author. Plagiarizing encompasses omitting quotation marks for directly quoted material, omitting bibliographic references either in the text or on a source page appended at the end of the assignment, and/or paraphrasing an author without giving credit to that author for the use of his or her ideas. Paraphrasing is the student's use of an author's ideas by rewording and/or rearranging that author's original text.

Responsibilities of Students, Parents Teachers and Administrators

The student is expected to uphold the spirit and the letter of this policy both philosophically and behaviorally in completing all school-related tests, quizzes, projects, reports, homework assignments or in-class assignments. No assignment or learning activity is exempted from this policy.

The parent is expected to adopt the philosophical wholesomeness of this policy and uphold the spirit and the letter of it by reviewing it with his or her student and encouraging the student to practice academic honesty throughout the student's years at Falcon High School.

The Teacher is expected to review with the students the policy of academic honesty at the beginning of each semester and other times during the year as he or she deems it appropriate. The teacher is also expected to enforce the policy in all instances of academic dishonesty following the process as outlined below.

The administrator is expected to support the spirit of academic honesty with students, parents, counselors, teachers and other staff members in conferences and in each classroom. Disciplinary action taken with students concerning the Academic Honesty Policy will follow the process as outlined below.

Process for Disciplinary Action

The process whereby a student will be punished for infraction of the Academic Honesty Policy shall include the following steps:

- The student will be contacted by the teacher of the class where the infraction occurs.

- The administration will be alerted.

- The teacher or administrator will contact the parent to state the issue, review this policy, and explain disciplinary consequences.

Disciplinary Action For Student Violation Of the Academic Honesty Policy

Note: A teacher may choose to handle the academic honesty infraction himself or herself or refer it in written form to the administrative office. If referred, however, the infraction becomes a permanent part of the student's disciplinary record and appropriate discipline will be enforced. Teachers and administrators reserve the right to respond to the wrong doing with punitive action of varying severity including temporary suspension or permanent removal of the student from the class, school, or special program depending on the nature of the infraction and the number of previous infractions.

Consequences for a student's involvement in an act of academic dishonesty will include one or more of the following actions:

- The student will receive an automatic zero (failing grade) on the assignment or test; no make-up work will be offered to compensate for the zero.

- The student can be dropped from the National Honor Society (NHS) if the student is a member of that organization;

- The student may face suspension from extra-curricular activities including sports programs;

- The student may face suspension from Falcon High School;

- The student may be removed from the course with a grade of "F" (failure).