Zeeland supt suspended over plagiarism

ZEELAND, Mich. (WOOD) - Zeeland Schools Superintendent Dave Barry has been suspended for two weeks without pay following his admitted plagiarism of a blog for a district newsletter.

Barry copied 396 words of the 437 in the blog verbatim into an employee newsletter with his name signed at the bottom. He said it was a "mistake" not to correct the author.

Superintendent Barry will also have to go to schools in the fall and talk to students and staff about the pitfalls of plagiarism. A formal reprimand will be put in his employment file.

When the Zeeland Board of Education investigated Barry, they found that this was not the only instance of plagiarism on his behalf. However, no one would comment on the other instances.

"It's a personal matter and so at this point we've gone through this stuff and some of this stuff we can't divulge," said board member Carol Slagh.

Slagh was the only member of the board to disagree with the disciplinary action taken--she thinks Barry should resign.

On May 15, the board of education said they were "taking this matter very seriously and we intend to review the incident thoroughly. We plan to conclude our review of the situation in a timely manner."

At a public meeting on May 21 , most of the public comments Zeeland school board meeting were about the incident, and the majority of those who commented were in favor of firing Barry.