RPS superintendent apologizes for plagiarizing

RPS superintendent Munoz apologizes for plagiarizing a Thanksgiving letter he sent to staff.

Full stormteam 3 forecast is thank you for joining us for kimt news 3 at 10?

"* i'm katie lange.

And i'm george mallet.

First tonight... the superintenden t of rochester public schools ?

"* apologizing for a letter laced with plaigarism he sent out to staff on thanksgiving.

Kimt news three's anthony monzon is live outside rochester public schools with more on this story.

Anthony?

Well katie and george... what started as a letter thanking the entire rps staff for their work during the pandemic has now become a story of plagiarism centered on the head of rochester public schools.

"i want to say to you that i really am sorry" that's the message from rochester public schools superintenden t michael munoz in an email to staff apologizing for plagiarizing a thanksgiving letter of gratitude they received last week.

"i made the bad choice that i did" ... munoz went on to say... "to plagiarize the thanksgiving letter that was sent to you last week.

I know by doing this i have damaged your respect and trust in me."

Munoz says he takes full responsibility for his error in judgement... which would be considered a level?

"*one offene and form of cheating had it been committed by a student according to this year's student handbook.

Rochester city council member and parent michael wojcik says "i asked my 12?

"* year?

"*old daughter, is a 7th grader, whether or not it's okay to send out a letter that was taken from somebody else without acknowledging that, and she said 'no, no that's completely wrong, that's plagiarism.'

And i'm like 'you're gonna want to watch the news tonight.'" wocjik acknowledges as a city council member... there's little he can do about munoz's superintenden t status... but as a concerned parent... he's hopeful the rochester public school board will take action.

"i think that the school board, particularly the incoming school board, is going to take a look at and we have reached out to both of the new incoming school board members for comment on this story.

Wojcik for his part also says while this plagiarism incident may play well in the media... the school board is facing more substantive issues... and some of the decisions made by munoz are far more questionable than his decision to plagiarize.

Live in rochester... anthony monzon... kimt news three.

Thank you anthony.

Superintenden t munoz says he is committed to rebuilding the confidence and trust of rps staff... and will learn from this mistake to become a better leader