Philosophy:

Our goal at Herndon High School is to promote a learning environment that is grounded in honesty and integrity. The Hornet community commits to acting responsibly and ethically to build trust and prepare for the future.

The Code:

Students attending Herndon High School are expected to conduct themselves honorably in pursuit of their education.  Cheating, plagiarism, and fraud violate ethical and moral rules of conduct and will not be tolerated at Herndon High School.

Responsibilities & Expectations of Our Community

It takes a collective effort to maintain the integrity of an Honor Code.  To this end, we ask for the collaboration of students, parents, teachers, counselors, and administrators in upholding the Honor Code.

Students:

• Act with academic integrity and honor

• Understand the Honor Code, violations, and the consequences

• Report instances of Honor Code violations to staff

Parents:

• Report instances of Honor Code violations to staff

• Understand and actively reinforce Honor Code tenets with students

• Support the faculty and administration with the enforcement of the Honor Code

Teachers:

• Present and uphold the Herndon HS Honor Code in an equitable and unified manner

• Display the Honor Code in the classroom

• Closely monitor students in a testing environment

• Report Honor Code violations as set forth in the following guidelines to the parent/guardian and appropriate administrator

Counselors:

• Collaborate with teachers and administrators in counseling students regarding the Honor Code

• Work with teachers and administrators in identifying root causes of Honor Code violations

• Collaborate with administrators in meeting with students and parents as needed

Administrators:

• Make the Honor Code publicly available to students, parents, and faculty/staff

• Uphold Honor Code in unified and equitable manner

• Maintain a written record of Honor Code violations

• Follow through on consequences in a timely manner, including meeting with referring teacher and notifying sponsors of honor societies and other leadership organizations

• Display the Honor Code in classrooms and hallways

• Communicate to staff when appropriate regarding student participation in extracurricular activities

Violations

Violations and consequences are considered by each student’s history in all of his or her classes.  The Honor Code addresses the following violations:

Cheating  

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Participating in or facilitating any form of copying (e.g., paper copying, taking pictures, utilizing cell phones)

• Giving or receiving information orally, or by signs, gestures, or deception during any type of assessment

• Discussing assessment information without teacher approval

• Representing another person’s work as one’s own

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Defined as any technology that can produce new content, including text, images, data, or video/audio, based on inputted patterns and structures
• Using AI to create new content for graded or non-graded assignments without expressly given teacher consent
• Examples include, but are not limited to: ChatGPT, JapserChat, and Google Bard. 

Misrepresentation/Fraud

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Forging a signature on any document

• Hiring or paying another student/person/website to complete school assignments

• Misrepresenting experience and/or participation in a club or organization on a resume

• Presenting community service hours for course credit or other requirements when no service was performed

• Submitting a project or assignment, without making substantial changes, more than once for credit (without teacher permission)

Plagiarizing

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Copying material directly from published material or a website without using quotation marks and proper citations

• Turning in an assignment or project as one’s own work when it was written in part or entirely by someone else

• Making up sources or including sources not consulted in works cited page

• Altering, restating, or paraphrasing another person's words, ideas, or work without giving credit or acknowledging one’s sources.  This would include but not be limited to text, music and video clips, photos, graphics, and artwork

Stealing

Examples include, but not limited to:

• Taking another's piece of writing/work and submitting it as one’s own

• Taking teacher copies of quizzes and/or tests

• Accessing an answer key or other materials belonging to a teacher without permission

• Sharing pictures or details about assignments in person or through social media without teacher permission

Consequences

Initial Steps:

• Teacher makes a phone call to the student's parents to notify them of the incident
• Teacher will discuss the incident with the student's assistant principal to include specific consequences
• Teacher will write the referral and submit it to the student's assistant principal 

First Vioation:

• Honor code violations will be recorded in SIS
• Sudent will redo the assignment or complete an alternative assignment without a grade penalty
• If a student commits an honor violation on a retake, the orginal grade stands
• Student will complete a reflection form with the administrator
• Student's sponsors in Honor Societies, Class Council, and other academic organizations will be notified. Please note that the honor societies will take the appropriate action required and outlined by their specific organizations. 

Second Violation: 

• Honor code violation will be recorded in SIS
• Administrator will meet with parents and students
• Student's sponsors in Honor Societies, Class Council, and other academic organizations will be notified
• It will be treated as a Tier 2 consequence from the SRR
  • Loss of privileges for up to seven (7) days
  • School based community service
  • Assigned after school detention

Third Violation & Subesquent Violations: 

• Honor code violations will be recorded in SIS
• Student's sponsors in Honor Societies, Class Council, and other academic organizations will be notified
• It will be treated as a Tier 3 consequence from SRR
  • Loss of privileges up to fourteen (14) days
  • School based community service
  • In-school suspension up to two (2) days

Each violation will carry over to the following school year.  It does not reset at the start of a new school year.