Parents of Hingham student sue school district after son disciplined for using AI on school project

HINGHAM, Mass. — The parents of a Hingham High School senior disciplined by school officials for using artificial intelligence on his social studies project are now suing the school district claiming that the boy’s civil rights were violated.

Dale and Jennifer Harris of Hingham claim in their lawsuit that their son, identified only as “RNH” in court paperwork, “will suffer irreparable harm that is imminent” after his teachers disciplined him and another classmate for using AI on their school project.

“He’s been accused of cheating and it wasn’t cheating, there was no rule in the handbook against AI,” said Jennifer Harris, the student’s mother.

The couple is also asking the court to order school officials to change their son’s final grade from a “D” to a “B,” to “cease and desist” from barring him from being inducted into the National Honor Society, and “to cease and desist from characterizing the use of artificial intelligence” by their son as “cheating,” the lawsuit states.

“On that semester he got a C+ by one point so our argument to the school was well, could you fail him with a 59 instead of a 53, so he could have a B- because he’s applying to top tier schools, he’s applying to Stanford, he’s applying to MIT, they see a C and it’s going in the trash,” said Harris.

Their son, who is a three-sport varsity student-athlete and scored 1520 on his SAT and earned a perfect score on the ACT, wants to attend Stanford University, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Oct. 8 by Duxbury attorney Peter Farrell, on behalf of the Hingham couple.

He received a final “D” grade, and other disciplinary measures including “Saturday detention,” after his teacher spot-checked his work and learned that he and another classmate had used AI for their school project, the lawsuit states. He also was not allowed into the National Honor Society.

“The punishing actions have a significant, severe, and continuing impact on RNH’s future earning capacity, earning potential, and acceptance into an elite college or university course of study given his exemplary academic achievements,” the lawsuit states.

The case highlights the debate about the use of artificial intelligence in educational settings.

“While there is much dispute as to whether the use of generative AI constitutes plagiarism, plagiarism is defined as the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own,” the lawsuit states. “During the project, RNH and his classmate did not take someone else’s work or ideas and pass them off as their own.”

The Harris’s son is applying for admission to elite colleges and universities that “command an extensive applicant pool of high academic achievers with high test scores, grade point averages, including grades of A’s and B’s only,” the lawsuit states. “Stanford is one of the most competitive schools in the country.”

In their lawsuit, the Harris’s are asking the court issue a preliminary injunction, including that school officials “immediately repair, restore and rectify” their son’s letter grade in Social Studies to a grade of “B” and “that the Court order the expungement of any grade, report, transcript entry or record of discipline imposing any kind of academic sanction.”

The lawsuit claims that their son was “unfairly and unjustly accused of cheating, plagiarism, and academic dishonesty.”

According to the lawsuit, the senior and his classmate “conducted their own research into the use of AI” and explained to their teachers “how use of AI is not considered to be plagiarism, and that there is substantial debate on this topic, and thus the decision to impose the sanctions received were unwarranted, unjustified, and detrimental to their otherwise unblemished academic records.”

In December, a social studies teacher at Hingham High conducted “spot checks” of the senior’s work on a “National History Day” project, and accused him and his classmate “of using AI, cheating on the assignment and that they would be held accountable,” the lawsuit states.

The teacher “did not prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) during the preparation and/or research portion of the project,” the lawsuit states. “Thus, RNH and his classmate used AI to prepare the initial outline and research for their project on Lew Alcindor, better known as Kareem Abdul Jabar, and his pioneering role as a civil rights activist.”

The Harris’s claim in their lawsuit that at the time, “the use of AI was not considered cheating and not in violation of the ‘Academic Integrity: Cheating and Plagiarism Policy’ set forth in the 2023-2024 Handbook.”

As a result, the lawsuit states, the history department head instructed their son and his classmate to complete a new project separately, to not use AI at all, to not use any of their previous work, and to submit handwritten note cards.

The lawsuit also claims that school officials violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act “by disclosing aspects of their protected student record and turning this incident into a pervasive pattern of bullying, threats, intimidation and coercion.”

The conduct of school officials became “so severe, pervasive and egregious” that it prompted the Harris’s “to request and receive a ‘Safety Plan’ for their son,” the lawsuit claims.

Boston 25 reached out to the school district for comment on the allegations.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Hingham Public Schools said, “To respect the privacy of the student involved and due to ongoing litigation, HPS is unable to provide further details at this time.”

Meanwhile, college admission deadlines are looming for the Harris’s son, the lawsuit states.

“In order for RNH to apply to Stanford by November 1, which means submitting no later than October 25th, his transcript issue must be resolved by early October so that when RNH requests his transcripts, they reflect grades commensurate with his achievement and not marred by the incident that gave rise to this case,” the lawsuit states.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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