In the editor’s column of August’s ASBJ, I addressed the issue of plagiarism and its impact on the publishing industry, all the way from the classroom to our magazine’s pages.

At the end of the column, we pledged to be more diligent in checking the work of all magazine contributors, including our own staff. So I am sad to report that, while editing September’s Up Front section, we found at least two instances in which substantial sections of a staff member’s copy had been lifted verbatim from other publications.

We met with the writer, who admitted to instances in which the work of others had been improperly used. We are continuing to research material provided by this writer back to September 2006; the tainted copy we found was not published.

After completing our investigation, we took appropriate action. The employee no longer works for ASBJ or the National School Boards Association (NSBA). We also have provided training to the publications team and the greater NSBA staff on plagiarism and proper attribution.
We hope you understand that this employee’s actions do not measure up to our magazine’s editorial standards, and that we feel an ethical obligation and responsibility to inform our readers, both on this blog and in print, of what has occurred.

Glenn Cook, Editor-in-Chief