Naperville Central principal may be reassigned after plagiarism flap

Naperville Central High School Principal Jim Caudill likely will be reassigned for next school year after plagiarizing a speech he gave at a recent graduation event.

Naperville Unit District 203 Superintendent Alan Leis announced his decision Thursday, accompanied by a revelation that just a day after the incident, Central's valedictorian apparently plagiarized portions of his commencement address.

Leis said attorneys for the district and Caudill are negotiating the principal's future with the district. Caudill has one year left on his contract with District 203 and already had announced plans to retire in two years.

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Caudill did not return calls seeking comment.

The school board still will have to vote on any disciplinary action, but no timetable has been set for that decision or finding a replacement for Caudill at Central.

"Teachers are held to a higher standard than students," Leis said. "Administrators are held to even higher standards than teachers, and we can't in good honesty tell students it's wrong (to plagiarize) and then say it's OK for an administrator, any administrator."

While some have called for Caudill to be fired, Leis said he had to consider the positive experiences he has had with the principal and Caudill's 34 years of service to the district.

Caudill, who has been at Central for 27 years, including the past five as principal, gave the speech in question at a May 20 senior commemorative program. But it was actually written more than a decade ago by a former student, Megan Plackett, who now teaches at the school.

Caudill has said he wrote a speech of his own, but the night before the event he started looking through old speeches hoping to find new ideas.

Upon discovering the speech by Plackett (then Nowicki), he started tweaking her work. He says he planned to call her for permission but because it was late at night decided to ask her in person the next day.

That conversation never happened. Caudill was busy that day and says it wasn't until midway through the speech that night that he realized his error.

He acknowledged he should have spoken with Plackett and has said being busy was no excuse. He already has met with her as well as the English Department faculty to discuss the situation.

Plackett has declined comment.

Wednesday night, the school board met in closed session to discuss the matter. Leis said board members shared their perspective but did not direct him in how to proceed. He also consulted with district and school staff and took into consideration the 150 to 200 e-mails he received.

Caudill's isn't the only incident of plagiarism at the school. Leis also announced Thursday the school's valedictorian apparently plagiarized at least half the speech he presented at graduation on May 21. Leis said large portions of that talk came from a speech the student found on the Internet.

The district has asked the student to return his valedictorian medal and the speech will not appear on the videotape of the ceremony.

Leis called the two situations "atypical of the high standards of this school and this school district" and said the district will form an advisory committee this summer to review its policies regarding plagiarism.

"This has been a very difficult and emotional time for many of us at central office and for certain the staff at Naperville Central," he said. "It is my belief any final decision and resolution of this matter will be based on an assessment of what is best for our students, our staff and the District 203 community. We will move forward not with emotion but with reason, and most of all we will more forward with integrity."