Right decision to reassign principal

In his 27 years at Naperville Central High School, including five as its principal, Jim Caudill has made a big difference in the lives of young people.

That can't be overlooked.

But Caudill also made a big mistake that sent a terrible message to young people. He plagiarized a speech he gave at a senior commemorative program last month. A speech that had been written by a then-Naperville Central student, who is now a teacher at the school, more than a decade ago.

Such indifference to honesty in the use of the written word, particularly galling in the case of an educator, can't be lightly dismissed.

But people came to Caudill's defense at Monday's Naperville Unit District 203 school board meeting. A man who cultivated an atmosphere of "warmth" and "caring" at Central should not be removed as principal, was the plea of one Caudill supporter.

So District 203 Superintendent Alan Leis was left to balance all the good work Caudill has done against a very bad lapse in judgment in recommending how best to discipline Caudill.

He made the right call in reassigning Caudill to the district's central office, a decision backed by the school board. And Leis chose the right words in defense of this action.

"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."

Moreover, Caudill will not be moved to a make-work position. The reassignment clearly states what projects Caudill will work on. And rather than rushing to name a new principal, the school board was wise to hire an interim principal to lead the high school next year

And from what we know of the financial details of this decision, Caudill doesn't stand to benefit monetarily from his reassignment. But we wouldn't object to Caudill getting a pay cut, particularly if it offsets any increase in pay for the interim principal, whose salary is yet to be determined.

But Leis made the right decision. It strikes the right balance between recognizing Caudill's contributions while not wrongly banishing him from the schools for a moment of weakness. Yet keep in mind that no one is to blame for this but Caudill. He could have avoided this situation by simply doing what is expected of his students -- give credit where credit is due.

In a statement on the school district's Web site, Leis said, "It has been disturbing to watch some point fingers at the press or individual teachers. The message, laced with anger, is that 'they' caused this to happen. That is too easy."

We have seen some of this in online responses to our story on this issue. We read that it was wrong for some tattletale to expose Caudill. Even Caudill, though regretting what he did, wonders if pressure from newspapers calling for his resignation might have worked against him. Caudill put the pressure on himself when he decided he was just too busy to get around to being honest in using someone else's work.

That should never fly in the classroom, let alone in the principal's office.