Plagiarism dispute spurs call for board members' ouster

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (AP) -- Several parents are seeking the removal of three members of a school board that reversed a science teacher's decision to give zeros to 28 students accused of plagiarism on a botany project.

The board of the rural district about 20 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, made the decision during a closed-door meeting in December.

Piper High School teacher Christine Pelton had suspected plagiarism after discovering that many papers contained identical material. She resigned in protest of the reversal, and the school's principal has said he will resign at the end of the year.

The parents applied for a petition Tuesday to recall the three board members, said Leroy Stevens, the recall effort's leader.

"All of those members should have known, or should have made decisions with the majority of the school system in mind, not just 28 students," Stevens said.

The decision to give the students partial credit for the project came after parents of the accused students complained.

Board president Chris McCord, who is one of the targets of the recall drive, has said the complaints had no effect on the decision.

The three board members did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

The full seven-member board reversed the teacher's decision, but Kansas law only allows parents to seek the recall of three members.

The district attorney will determine whether the recall petition application is valid. If approved, the parents will have 90 days to gather the 681 signatures necessary to hold a recall election.

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