Don't even get me started. Yes, parents do hover and believe their children over the entire group of teachers telling them the same thing about their child. I'm a middle school teacher. This subject is SOOOO fraught with debate. Welcome to NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND. There ARE no consequences. Students with IEPs and/or 504 plans are not ALLOWED to be disciplined to any real degree, so whatever they do, they get away with. Trust me, it doesn't take them long to figure that out - and the kids who don't have these plans figure it out too. The worst behaved kids run the schools.
Cheaters should get a 0, and deal with it. However, again thanks to NCLB we are not supposed to give 0s at all. The lowest grade on something is supposed to be 50%. Even if they simply don't do it. I'd like to do nothing and get 50% of my pay, please.
Oh, and by the way, things like academic integrity are gone over in detail at the beginning of the year, and periodically throughout, so no one can claim they didn't know.