The incident occurred in December 2023, and the students were allowed to redo the project after receiving failing grades. The student was also given a Saturday detention and was initially barred from the National Honor Society, but was later allowed in after his parents filed the lawsuit. The judge agreed that the school officials could reasonably conclude that the student's use of AI was in violation of the school's academic integrity rules. The parents' other claims, including allegations of threats, intimidation, and coercion, were rejected by the judge.
Key takeaways:
- A federal court ruled against parents who sued a Massachusetts school district for punishing their son who used an AI tool to complete an assignment.
- The student and another peer were found to have copied and pasted text from an AI application, including citations to nonexistent books, and passed it off as their own work.
- The parents argued that there was no rule against using AI in the student handbook, but the school officials said the student violated multiple policies.
- The court found that school officials have the better argument on both the facts and the law, and the parents' motion for an injunction was rejected.