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Corona del Mar District Hires Ethics Consultant

Deborah Davis

EDUC 740-D04: Leadership Principles and Ethics

Dr. Araceli G. Montoya

June 26, 2014

After a year-long cheating scandal and a draft-style pick of prom dates, The Corona del Mar (CdM) high school district has hired a consultant to work with staff and students on ethical issues (Fry, 2014). This is truly a sad state of affairs. For a full year, students were hacking teacher computers and breaking into the school to steal testing materials. The school district brokered a deal allowing the students to transfer with no other real sanctions against them. So, not only did this school have an environment allowing for such an activity, but there have been few, if any consequences for the actions that took place. The other main issue was picking prom dates on a tiered basis as a group of young men slated the young women of their schools and then chose them in a round-robin manner. The consultant will host a workshop to aid the school. The article did not report if the workshop would be repeated, nor if there were to be any follow-up activities.

Exodus 20:15 states, “Thou shalt not steal” (KJV). Getting the test questions and answers instead of learning the material is clearly stealing. There can be no ethical dispute about this matter. In Genesis 1:27, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (KJV) and Galations 3:28 says “ . . . there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (KJV). From this we know that treating people as chattel is wrong. Ranking girls by their prettiness and selecting them in circuit for prom dates does not grant any person the equality that God has given us all.

Reference

Fry, H. (2014, June 11). District hires ethics consultant in wake of cheating scandal. Daily Pilot (Costa Mesa, CA).

District hires ethics consultant in wake of cheating scandal

Hannah Fry

June 11--Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustees on Tuesday voted unanimously to hire an ethics consultant to improve the culture at Corona del Mar High School.

The district will spend $5,000 to hire Kevin O'Grady, of O'Grady School Solutions, to provide training for students in diversity, honesty, inclusivity and ethics next school year. The Newport Beach high school has faced scrutiny several times this year, motivating district officials to seek out a consultant to improve the image of the school, which enjoys a high academic ranking.

"During the last school year, incidents have occurred that have demonstrated a need for training on sensitivity, ethics, tolerance and bullying," the staff report states.

In December, eleven students were identified as participating in a years-long cheating scandal at the high school.

Students' involvement ranged from breaking into the school to place keyloggers on the back of teachers' computers in order to access exams and change grades to having knowledge of the cheating.

The juniors and seniors involved opted to sign stipulated expulsion agreements in January that prohibited them from returning to CdM this school year but allowed them to transfer to another school in the district.

The district is still embroiled in a legal battle with the family of one of the students.

In May, CdM made headlines again after word spread that the high school's junior and senior boys were selecting prom dates in the style of a professional sports league's draft.

The intent of the draft, which was described as "creepy" and "sexist" on social media, was to avoid the infighting and controversy that often follows the selection of prom dates, students said.

While many CdM students saw the prom draft as harmless fun, Principal Kathy Scott condemned the students' actions in a letter to the campus community. In it she explained that sexist behavior would not be tolerated at the high school.

Ann Huntington, assistant superintendent of special education, said about the hiring of the consultant: "We felt that he might be able to help the school work through some of the issues of the past year. He's going to look at what it means to be a CdM student and talk about ways to be more inclusive."

O'Grady will host a one-day workshop with CdM student leaders in August "to refresh their culture and identity," Huntington said.

This isn't the first time the district has called on O'Grady to help restore CdM's image.

In 2009, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, several CdM varsity athletes posted a video showing them threatening to rape and kill a female student who was the lead actress in a student production of the musical "Rent." The athletes also used slurs in the video to describe another classmate who they believed was gay, the lawsuit states.

Trustees will consider expanding O'Grady's services to the district's other schools in the fall, Huntington said.

Trustee Martha Fluor said she's optimistic that the consultant will improve conditions at the high school.

"It's a beginning point to have a conversation among students, staff and parents in terms of developing good, solid ethical and moral character," she said. "That comes from home, but we're here to support the families at school."

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