Chris Spence, the director of education for Toronto's public school board, publicly admitted Wednesday to plagiarizing material for an opinion piece he wrote in the Toronto Star earlier this month about the importance of extracurricular activities.
In a letter of apology issued on the Toronto District Schools Board's website, Spence acknowledges he didn't give proper credit - "in no less than five different instances" - for the work he lifted from a 1989 New York Times opinion piece.
"There is no excuse for what I did," he said in the statement. "I am ashamed and embarrassed...words of apology are not enough."
Spence said he will enrol himself in the ethics and law course at Ryerson University's journalism program (um, what?) and intends to "take concrete steps" to have the discredited op-ed removed anywhere it's found online or printed, "with my full retraction and apology put in its place."
According to school board policy, if a student is caught plagiarizing, a "mark of zero will be awarded for the assignment in question," as well as the notification of teachers and principals. That way the teachers and principals also learn how to do it.
