Ok, gonna ignore it then. No reason to think her database was flawed.

From the way the story was told, and what I remember of the particular details, it seemed more as if the database was flawed in that it ALLOWED such errors, not in that it was itself the cause of them (ie. the profs screwed up; the database let them).

edit: I'll take a moment to point out, in case it wasn't obvious: I have absolutely zero reason to suspect, after reading the article in the OP, that the scenario I described was the case, there as well.

The actions taken by both the parents that complained and the board that overturned the teachers decision were both wrong. As far as the situation goes they (the students) should have received what ever grade they earned teaching them the value of succeeding or failing on their own merits, not to mention the fact that in this age of the internet students should be if not are fully aware of the existence of websites and software that detects plagiarism. These tools used by the teachers are in no way 100% accurate, but the article made mention that the teacher compared previous work with the project showing the drastic change in writing style and vocabulary. I saw let those that were caught suffer the penalty and fail the semester. what i don't agree with most is the statement that a near by business requested a list of names for each student caught as to black list them from any future employment. Off hand to me this is an invasion of privacy and the company has no right to even request such information, there is a reason every application i have ever filled out has a section for listing education. It is the responsibility of the employer to check on references and the education of the potential employee at the time of employment consideration. I am not trying to start a debate with my next statement and within the context of this discussion I feel that it is wrong to hold a person liable in the future for a single mistake made in school. That is just a little extreme.

People can request whatever they want, though the paper would also have been well within their rights to publish the name of the company so Piper parents could boycott them as well.
If the school had turned over the names, *that* would have been a crime.

Agreed. It may be inappropriate for a business to request the names, but not illegal.

This story is ten years old? You didn't think to mention that in the OP, or share a follow-up story about what ended up happening?

Surely the article you shared isn't the last word on the topic?

Let me do some looking, if I find anything else I'll post it here. As I said, I only came across it due to an assignment and didn't really look at the publishing date until after the inconsistency with the teacher's age was brought up.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/689380/posts

according to the article the loss of personnel isn't completely because of the plagiarism incident. It is believed, however, to have had an impact on the number of people leaving.

Feel free to look for more, but that is the most recent thing I could find that is specifically geared towards the Piper School District.

Gotcha. I didn't realize that you didn't realize how old it was.