Cy-Fair ISD cheating scheme prompts suspension of honor students

Thursday, December 18, 2014
Cy-Fair ISD honor students suspended for cheating
A group of honors students at Cy-Falls High School are in trouble for posting pictures of quizzes and tests to two private Facebook pages

CY-FAIR, TX (KTRK) -- A group of honors students at Cy-Falls High School are in trouble for posting pictures of quizzes and tests to two private Facebook pages.

"Most people knew about it," said one student with whom we spoke with anonymously.

One of the pages was called "Cheaters Galore." It was a private page set up for AP U.S. History students. It had over 100 members, and you had to be invited into the group to view the posts.

"It was pretty useful for me as a student to get the stuff that I missed or get help with what I didn't understand without having to go directly to my teacher," said the student, who never posted to the page.

The second page, which spawned from the first, was created to help with honors Physics. Some students posted class notes, pictures of online quizzes, and recently something unthinkable.

"From what I heard, they posted the district test on there," the student told us.

The Physics page wasn't set to private. The student we spoke with never saw it because a teacher found it and reported it.

Cy-Fair ISD responded by saying in part: "It was brought to the attention of campus administrators that answers to a quiz and pictures of an exam had been posted to social media... We were extremely disappointed... Sharing this type of information is considered a form of cheating and the students responsible for the posts have been disciplined."

Those students are now suspended or kicked out of honor society.

"It's kind of sad to see because most of these kids are kids who have never even gotten a lunch detention in their life," said the student. "People feel like they have to do this because of the pressure put on them to be in the top 10 percent. So, I don't think people are actually intending to do bad stuff they just want to get ahead."

Both Facebook pages have been shut down.