It would be nice if school officials didn't provide an example of plagiarism to their students

As a history teacher, every year I try to show my students the fine line between plagiarism and building on what historians have written, while giving them credit, in their own writing. It must be dismaying to Washington, DC teachers to see their own mayor's administration copy practically verbatim from other school districts without thinking to give them credit.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration copied significant portions of its education strategy verbatim from a plan developed by a North Carolina school system, even as the mayor seeks to show he has the vision and expertise to restructure governance of the District's troubled public schools.

Fenty's 31-page document is a blueprint of his plans to improve students' academic performance. It contains passages that are virtually identical to some in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools' strategic plan -- including the opening statement describing the administration's vision. Fenty's document was submitted to the D.C. Council in late February in support of his proposal to take control of the public schools.

"In 2006, the United States produced six Nobel Prize winners," Fenty's vision statement begins. "All of them were educated in public schools. This is the standard of education that DCPS must strive to deliver." That passage, using "CMS" instead of "DCPS," appears on Page 7 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg plan.