Roosevelt High School principal apologizes after plagiarism accusations in yearbook

ROOSEVELT, New York (WABC) -- A principal from a local high school is apologizing after he was accused of plagiarizing a message to the graduating class.

That message was published in the yearbook for Roosevelt High School.

At the end of one of the pages in the yearbook, the principal -- Dr. Stephen Strachan signed the end of the letter Congratulations to the Albany High School Class of 2013.

The wording is almost verbatim to a letter written by one of Strachan's colleagues to *his graduating class in California last year.

Parents defend Strachan saying this isn't plagiarism.

They say it was a mistake that was supposed to be taken care of in the yearbook editing process.

They say Strachan deserves a whole lot more credit than this.

"Under the leadership of this principal we have seen astronomical strides in a positive direction for our children. We have children going to colleges and getting full rides to college at an astounding rate,' said PTA President Rose Gietschier.

Strachan didn't want to speak on camera rather released this statement.

"I sincerely apologize to the Roosevelt community and to the class of 2014 for the inadvertent clerical error causing mistakes to be printed in the 2014 yearbook."

Students say they are a little disturbed about this entire thing, that if they did something similar they would have possibly been suspended.

Strachan is personally covering the cost of the reprinting the yearbooks which will cost about $800 and should be ready Friday.