Disgraced school board head Chris Spence breaks his silence

The former leader of Canada’s largest school board says he takes full responsibility for the plagiarism that led to his abrupt departure this year – but also says his research assistants are partly to blame.

In his first interview with The Globe and Mail since he stepped down as director of education of the Toronto District School Board, Chris Spence addressed the explosive allegations of plagiarism that date back 17 years to his time as a graduate student at the University of Toronto.

“I never ever sat down to take someone else’s ideas. It was unintentional. I also had some support … research assistants and things like that. But I approved everything, I signed off on everything. I put my name on it, so I own it. I take full responsibility for that,” Dr. Spence said in an interview Thursday. “But it is complicated and there are some layers to it, some mitigating circumstances, if you will, not to point the finger at anybody else.”  (more...)

Disgraced school board head Chris Spence breaks his silence