Internet blog sites receive increased scrutiny from school administrators in the Washington, D.C., area
Internet blog sites, such as MySpace.com and Xanga.com, are receiving increased scrutiny from middle and high school administrators in the Washington, D.C., area. One private school prohibits students from using their school e-mail addresses to register for access to Facebook.com, a widely used networking site for college and high school students. Several other area private schools sent letters home to parents warning them about the site. The school districts in Fairfax County and Arlington County, Virginia, plan on holding seminars for parents on the subject in the coming week. Among the obvious dangers are adult stalkers enticing teenagers into face-to-face meetings. In addition, personal information posted online can be read by college admissions officers and future employers. According to Parry Aftab, an Internet lawyer and the executive director of Wiredsafety.org, some colleges have expelled teenagers for violating codes of conduct after discovering photos of underage students posing in front of kegs or writing about drinking binges, and employers often look up job candidates on the sites. Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, notes that the sites have created a new set of problems for educators, including cyberabuse. As an example, he cites an incident in which three middle-school students in the Chicago area were suspended after posting obscene and threatening remarks about a teacher on a blog. While many schools prohibit the use of school computers for anything not school-related, it is more difficult to regulate use of home computers. Meanwhile, students express outrage and embarrassment about parents and other adults viewing their sites. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported 1,224 incidents last year of "online enticement" of children by adults. The group estimates that one in five children gets sexual solicitations online. Staff members of NetSmartz, an arm of the center, discuss the issue with local students. According to Staca Urie, a NetSmartz manager, after a recent discussion at the Lab School in Washington, D.C., students raced to their computers to delete information.
Washington PostBy Tara Bahrampour and Lori Aratani
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Editor's Note: Links to the websites mentioned are provided below. The issue of regulating off-campus conduct has been raised in several state and federal courts. In July 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in an unpublished opinion that a Virginia school district's code of conduct that allows school officials to discipline students for off-campus conduct under certain circumstances is not unconstitutionally vague. To view a summary of the case, including a link to NSBA resource material, see the NSBA School Law pages link below.]
[MySpace.com][Xanga.com][Facebook.com][Netsmartz.org][NSBA School Law pages on Collins v. Prince William County School Board]