Nevada educators oppose efforts to punish students who cheat

CARSON CITY — Assemblyman Harvey Munford found some surprising opposition Wednesday to his bill to penalize students who cheat:  the Clark County School District,  the Nevada Association of School Superintendents and the Nevada System of Higher Education.

They told Munford, D-Las Vegas, and members of the Assembly Education Association that it would take too much time and work and would take educators away from more important duties to keep track of cheating students.

Munford’s Assembly Bill 124 would block students from receiving a $10,000 Millennium Scholarship if they are caught cheating three or more times in high school. A retired teacher, Munford spoke of how flagrant cheating had become by his last year in teaching in 2005 and how he believes teachers have a moral duty  to stop it. He described in detail the kinds of cheating he saw.

“As a teacher, not only do you teach the lessons, you teach ethics, you teach morality, you teach decently.”

But Brian Daw, a school district lobbyist, said, “We cannot support this bill,” expressing concern about the time and effort to investigate cheating allegations and taking staff away “from more productive relationships and responsibilities with students.”

Education  Committee Chairman Elliot Anderson, D-Las Vegas,  disagreed and asked  opponents to work with Mundord to find a compromise.

“I don’t want us to say cheating is bad and not do anything about it,” he said. Anderson also placed on the Legislature’s website a copy of the Department of Education’s code of honor, which defines cheating and plagiarism. All Nevada students and their parents must sign it.

While Jim Richardson, the lobbyist for the Nevada Faculty Alliance, expressed concern about changing the course of peoples’ lives by denying a scholarship, he also gave the best example of the prevalence of cheating.

He said that as a young teacher he saw a student cheat on a test. Unsure of what to do, he told the class he saw someone cheat and asked that person to meet him after class.

“Five people came to see me,” Richardson said.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.