dontturnitin.com

Welcome

This website has been created to serve parents and students in the debate as to the ethics, legality and efficacy of the use of turnitin.com by the administration of McLean High School of McLean, Virginia.  The program, rolled out in the 2006-2007 school year, has been under intense scrutiny and debate in and out of the school.  Students have rejected the program as presuming guilt and a violation of intellectual property law.  Parents have voiced concerns over the same issues as well as privacy and other ethical issues.

Cheating and plagiarism should, of course, never be tolerated in any academic or workplace setting.  McLean High School has in place a comprehensive honor code that is endorsed by students and faculty alike.  The use of turnitin.com to augment the honor code on a voluntary basis or to assist the students in learning proper citation methodology might be acceptable.  However, there are several prohibitive factors present in its present application, namely:

1. The use of turnitin is arbitrarily and inequitably applied by the school administration;
2. Minor students are being coerced into entering illegal contracts; 
3. Original, intellectual work product produced in a public school setting is being transferred to, archived by and utilized for profit by a private company against the student's wishes but with the permission of the school administration.

At the December 2006 PTSA meeting, it was made abundantly clear that the PTSA was not the proper "forum" for the turnitin.com issue, despite it clearly being an issue concerning Parents Teachers and Students.  Nor is the school administration be available for discussion... their focus clearly being directed to non-divisive school activities by the cluster leader.  With forums for discussion and practical compromises eliminated, opponents of the current school policies with respect to turnitin.com have been challenged and encouraged by the Fairfax County School System (FCPS) to seek legal recourse. 

In April of 2007 suit was filed against iParadigms, LLC (parent company of turnitin.com) in United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, by two McLean High School Students and two other high school students on the basis of copyright infringement.  The litigation is in progress and court documents can be found at the "Follow the Case" tab of the website.