Harvard-Westlake • Studio City • Volume 35 • Issue 5 • March 6, 2026 • hwchronicle.com
Self-study findings to be verified By Hannah Hendifar An accreditation team from the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) visited the Middle and Upper School from Mar. 2-4 to evaluate the school as part of its re-accreditation process. The team consists of 10 volunteer educators, staff members and administrators from independent schools in California. The accreditation follows the school’s submission of a self-study report that evaluated itself in 16 different categories. President Rick Commons said the objective of the accreditation team is to verify and confirm the report the school already wrote. “It’s a guided feedback system and it will result ultimately in a report that will come in the summer that will re-accredit Harvard NIC MONROE/CHRONICLE Westlake with recommendations INSTLLING INTEGRITY: Prefect Council and Student Leaders for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (SLIDE) held a student forum discussing honwhich we essentially have written or and integrity at the school as the Honor Board receives an increased number of cases concerning cheating and hate speech on campus in recent months. ourselves in the self-study,” Commons said. “We have pointed out things that we’re concerned about and they may say, ‘we actually think that what you have as secondary should be primary,’ but they’re probably not going to come up with things we haven’t already pointed out.” This was followed by an an- inforce academic integrity are ognize that there must be a reason By Holden Kim Head of Upper School Beth nouncement that Honor Board meant to uphold an even playing that it was implemented,” Helston Slattery said the accreditation prosaid. “It was a shock to some of us Prefect Council and Student consequences would be more field in classrooms. cess is more procedural than conse- Leaders for Inclusion, Diversity severe going forward. Prefect “We all have the goal of pro- teachers because I seem to see my quential for the school. and Equity (SLIDE) co-hosted Council and SLIDE Chairs tecting academic integrity and class as honest. However, I under“For a school like us, not to say an all-student assembly on Feb. then opened the floor for feed- making it so that what happens stand that might not be the case for that we shouldn’t be always thinking 19 to address a recent increase back and questions. Student in the classroom begins with all classes, so hopefully the policies about how to get better, but there’s in cheating and Honreactions to the new trust and is fair,” Commons said. improve security for those classes.” not a real fear that we won’t get ac- or Board cases and anpolicies were mixed. “There shouldn’t be one student Slattery said students already credited,” Slattery said. “It’s like, ‘we nounce policy changes. SLIDE Co-Chair who has an advantage that anoth- know what constitutes cheating, just need to make sure that you are Students met by grade, Dhara Jobrani ’26 er student doesn’t.” so the honor code itself is not actually doing the things that you with sophomores in Rugsaid that being surHead of Upper School Beth the most effective tool in guiding said that you’re doing.’ It’s a little bit by Auditorium, juniors rounded by peers Slattery said an unsupervised their behavior. of a hoop to jump through.” who cheat normalizes trust-based honor system is unre“The honor code is almost in Hamilton GymnasiChief Financial Officer Da- um and seniors in Taper academic dishonesty. alistic to effectively govern teenag- besides the point,” Slattery said. vid Weil ’93 said the main ben- Gymnasium. Rather than “There is a seri- ers, making stricter consequences “The things that students are doefit of the accreditation process teachers or faculty, memous incentive for stu- practical and necessary. ing, they know are wrong. They L. Wood comes from the reflection that bers of Prefect Council dents to cheat when “We have to acknowledge that don’t need the honor code to tell Beth occurs when creating the self- and SLIDE were present the academic pressure it’s not a reasonable expectation to them that using AI to write your Slattery study report. and competition is so have teenagers truly live in a com- papers or having your phone in in each location. “The accreditation process is high,” Jobrani said. “At munity of honor,” Slattery said. your lap or writing answers on The assembly opened meant to be something that en- with announcements and new a school like ours, when one stu- “And so, unfortunately, I feel as your arm are cheating.” courages a tremendous amount of policy directives outlining how dent cheats and does well, it raises though we actually have to have Nolan* said while he has resself-reflection,” Weil said. “It’s be- the school is responding to the the bar for all the other students more significant consequences.” ervations about the new policies, ing introspective, thinking about recent increase in Honor Code who then feel they need to cheat Upper School Math Teacher which he believes may create a the future of the school and where violations. These measures in- as well. It is a horrible cycle that Joshua Helston said the new poli- more anxious testing environment we are today and how those line up. clude stricter testing protocols, can be countered with limiting cies initially made him apprehen- for students, he hopes they will In some sense, before the visit even such as banning restroom access, that first student from being able sive, but that he trusts that they have ultimately achieve the administratakes place, we have already gained bans on pencil pouches, prohi- to cheat in the first place.” been implemented for good reason. tion’s objective of making exams the benefit of the process. The re- bitions on device use and other President Rick Commons “My gut reaction is that the more secure. • Continued on A2 sults are the icing on the cake.” restrictions during assessments. said the school’s efforts to re- policy seems excessive, but I rec-
Prefect Council, SLIDE hold forum discussing academic integrity at school amid rise in cheating
IN THIS ISSUE
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Considering Careers: Members of the community particpated in a Career Fair hosted by GLOBE to explore potential career paths.
Participating in Policy: Opinion Reporter Hailey Kramar ’27 urges students to be civically engaged without expecting immediate results.
Finding Family: Community members discuss the experience of adoption and how they connect with their families and heritage.
Reacting to Remakes: Arts and Entertainment Reporter Sophie Lee ’27 discusses the prevalence and impact of classics being remade.
The Underdogs: Sports Reporter Chloe Kim ’27 explores the important role non-starters play and their effect on team dynamics.