Dear readers of the Central Times and our website:
The stories the Central Times published about the recent cheating incident are spreading like wildfire through local media. Our newspaper is being mentioned in news broadcasts everywhere from NBC 5 Chicago to the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune. We, Anya Marchenko and Durva Trivedi, the original writers of the article, understand that most news sources have not been able to secure interviews with key figures in the cheating incident, and a lot of them simply refer to the CT article for their background information.
However, due to this game of journalistic telephone, some facts have been distorted. Multiple news stations and newspapers have assumed that the cheating occurred with the assistance of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program. This is simply incorrect. The cheating incident merely occurred in a class that happened to be piloting the BYOD program.
Every teacher that we know who pilots the BYOD program does not allow students to utilize their phones during a test. Moreover, to our knowledge, the students who were cheating did so even in classes that did not pilot the BYOD program. We do not wish for professional media to misrepresent the program because of a quote we decided to use in the story.
We are also concerned that Humanities teacher Eleanor Barbino’s quote is being misrepresented. For that, we apologize to Mrs. Barbino and any teachers who feel that their BYOD program is being portrayed negatively and unfairly.
We would also like to thank Central’s administration for being extremely helpful and cooperative in regards to this incident. We, as journalists, are obligated to report the truth. Your cooperation has made that significantly easier and more accurate.
Sincerely,
Anya Marchenko, Managing Editor and Durva Trivedi, Editorial/Copy Editor
