Naperville Central principal reassigned over plagiarized speech

Naperville Central Principal Jim Caudill will be reassigned to the district's central office next year as a result of plagiarizing a speech he gave to students last month.

His new duties will include helping with Central's renovation project and overseeing new programs to help struggling junior high and high school students, Superintendent Alan Leis announced at Monday's school board meeting before a capacity crowd showing its support of the principal.

Assistant Principal Bill Wiesbrook will take over as interim principal for the upcoming school year.

More Coverage Links Superintendent's statement on reassignment Letter: Two standards on school plagiarism [6/2/08] Letter: Time to crack down on plagiarism [5/31/08] Naperville Central principal may be reassigned after plagiarism flap [5/29/08] Superintendent's statement on plagiarism [5/30/08] Naperville principal admits speech he gave was ex-student's [5/23/08]

Caudill, who has been a district employee for 34 years, has spent 27 years at Central, including the past five as the school's principal. He came under fire for a speech he gave at a May 20 senior commemorative program. The speech was actually written more than a decade by then-student Megan Plackett, who now teaches at the school.

On May 29, Leis announced Caudill would likely be reassigned. But two dozen people asked the board Monday to let Caudill remain as principal for two more years until his retirement. They talked about how Caudill has touched their lives, said he is a man of integrity and asked the board to give him a second chance.

Among those speaking were actor David Eigenberg, who lives in California but is a Central alumnus, and Jared Currie, another alumnus, who presented a petition with 466 signatures supporting the principal

"Anyone here I think that knows Jim would say he was never anything less than honorable," Eigenberg said.

Counselor Linda Gross has known Caudill as both a colleague and principal to her children.

"I think there's a warmth and a caring in the hallways of that school, and I think there's a direct relationship to the leadership of Naperville Central that impacts the students and the staff, and because Jim is such an open and caring person that has an impact," Gross said.

Leis said he appreciates the input from the community but feels reassigning Caudill is the right thing to do. He said it is time to stop pointing fingers and talking about "what ifs."

"No matter how much you or even I like and respect Jim, the rules cannot differ for people we like, from people we might not like as much" Leis said. "And students have to know that we believe what we say, that academic integrity really is important. Our actions must match our words.

"Naperville Central is a premier academic institution because of the people in this room. It's an amazing place to work and to go to school. As such, it simply must stand for the very best in education."

Caudill was at Monday's meeting but did not address the board.

In an interview with the Daily Herald earlier in the day, he repeated that he was indeed in error but said other area newspapers calling for his resignation may have increased the magnitude of the situation.

Caudill has said he had a speech of his own written the night before the event but was looking through old speeches for more inspiration. He came across Plackett's speech and decided to tweak it for the event.

Because of the late hour, he did not call the teacher for her permission but decided to talk to her the next day. But the day became busy and that conversation never took place. He has since apologized to Plackett.

Regardless, he said he can't help but think back to the work he's done over the past 34 years and his clean record during that time.

"You look at all those things you struggle with and all the things you've worked with kids on and it comes down to one three-minute speech," he said.

Caudill's new position with the district's administrative office will include working on Central's $87.7 million renovation project. He will also help start an alternative program for junior high and high school students who are struggling as well as continuing to work on a mentoring program he started at Central.

"Obviously I'd much rather stay here (at Central), but I think there's a lot of things we could do from that (mentoring) program over there," he said. "Renovation we're continuing to meet on that and that's just going to continue to grow. The junior high (program) would be a very interesting thing to start talking (about) with different districts."

Caudill's current contract with the district expires in a year. He had previously planned to ask for one more year after that but is now uncertain whether he will.

Leis had the power to make the decision as to Caudill's reassignment himself, but the school board then voted 6-0 to hire Wiesbrook as Central's interim principal. Vice President Susan Crotty abstained from the vote and said while she does not agree with Leis' decision, she feels some good can come of the situation through Caudill's new duties.

Wiesbrook will take the helm July 1. He has been a member of Central's faculty since 1996 including the past three years as assistant principal. The district will begin the process of searching for a permanent replacement for Caudill this fall.

Leis' statement can be read in full at www.naperville203.org.