North Mesquite High School Honor Code

Open and clear communication among educators, students, and parents is the heart of North Mesquite High School's educational expectations. It is the goal of the NMHS staff for all students to achieve academic success. So that student success can be achieved and all Stallions can embrace academic integrity, these guidelines will be endorsed by all staff and students.

Students will be honest and trustful.
Students are expected to come to class prepared to work on all classroom assignments.
Students will be personally responsible for the completion of their classroom assignments.
Students are expected to do their own work at all times.
Students will keep their papers covered during tests and keep up with their homework so that another student cannot copy answers.
Students will not be permitted to share assignments unless a teacher has given permission for a collaborative project.
Students will accept the grade they have earned on assignments. Each student may politely discuss possible grading errors or mistakes individually with his/her teacher before or after class
Students will show respect to all NMHS staff and to other students.
Students will follow the classroom policies of each teacher and the NMHS Code of Conduct policies set in place by MISD.
NMHS teachers and staff will clearly communicate to students their classroom expectations for behavior and assignments.

Choosing to disregard these guidelines could result in the loss of credit for an assignment or the reduction of the student's citizenship grade. Participation in school organizations could be jeopardized, and letter of recommendation from NMHS staff could be denied. Above all, each NMHS student must protect his/her reputation and guard it wisely as it related to classroom participation and assignments.

Definitions:

Honesty occurs when a student...

Completes his/her own work
Gives credit for another's words, pictures, facts, and ideas
Keeps his/her eyes on his/her own paper, assignment, or exam
Does not copy work form another person or source

Dishonesty occurs when a student...

Misrepresents his/her own personal work by plagiarism or cheating Encourages or assists in an act of plagiarism or cheating Allows other students to claim his/her words or work as their own Has wandering eyes during individual classroom assignments or tests Copies printed material, videos, or images without crediting the source and thus willingly violates copyright laws
Communicates either verbally or nonverbally with another person(s) during non-collaborative situations. This communication includes but is not limited to talking, writing, signing, or text messaging.

Individual student assignments are defined as any classroom activities given when the teacher has communicated to students that they must complete their work by themselves.

Collaborative student assignments are defined as any classroom activities given when the teacher has communicated to students that they may complete their work with the help of a peer(s), parent(s), or resource(s).

NMHS teachers must take an active role in discouraging student dishonesty because:

It is the teacher's responsibility
Employment expectations encompass academic honesty
As a role model to students, teachers must have high standards for behavior
Student accountability and responsibility are very important to producing good citizens and lifelong learners

Suggested Consequences for Student Dishonesty:

A parent will be notified by NMHS staff when student dishonesty occurs in class.
NMHS staff will notify other teachers if they have gained knowledge of student dishonesty involving another teacher's classroom.
Proper documentation of student dishonesty will be kept on file with the teacher.
Consequences for student dishonesty will be on a year to year basis will not start over at semester.

For the first offenses that involves daily classroom homework assignments, the teacher may:

Notify parent(s)
Reduce citizenship grade one letter
Conduct an individual student conference
Deduct points, provide an alternate assessment, or award a zero
Assign a teacher detention

For the second offenses that involves daily classroom homework assignments, the teacher may:

Give a grade of zero on the assignment
Automatically deduct one letter grade in citizenship
Schedule a parent and student conference
Notify appropriate NMHS staff and sponsors
Deny to write letters or recommendation for that student

For the third offenses that involves tests, major assignments, or research projects, the teacher may:

Have written guidelines for student work and evaluation
Have proper documentation of student dishonesty for parents and administrator's examination
Consult with campus administrators if appropriate
Have to power to give a zero on a research paper, tests, or major assignments
Lower citizenship grade
Deny to write letters of recommendation for that student
Notify appropriate NMHS staff and sponsors