Toronto's top educator resigns after admitting to plagiarism
TORONTO - The director of education at Canada's largest school board has resigned after a plagiarism scandal.
Chris Spence resigned today from the Toronto District School Board after he admitted to plagiarizing parts of an opinion piece published in a major Toronto newspaper.
The board's chair, Chris Bolton, says that the resignation is effective immediately and the board will appoint an interim director.
Spence posted a letter of apology on the board's website Wednesday, saying he was "ashamed and embarrassed" by his behaviour and vowing to make amends.
As an educator, he said he "should know better" than to cite other people's work without attribution — something he said happened five times in the op-ed he penned for the Toronto Star.
He pledged to take "real and meaningful steps" to learn from and make up for his misbehaviour, including taking a journalism ethics class.
