Posted on 10/25/2005 8:27:33 AM PDT by Cagey
NEW JERSEY — An administrator at a private high school has threatened students with suspension unless they erased all personal profiles and blogs from the Internet.
Rev. Kieran McHugh, Principal of Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, N.J. banned students from accessing social networking sites such as MySpace.com, citing student safety as his primary concern, according to the Daily Record, a newspaper serving the northern New Jersey community.
Web sites such as MySpace.com allow users to post biographical information and pictures in personal profiles. These profiles help users communicate with others who share similar interests.
"I don't see this as censorship," McHugh told the Record. "I believe we are teaching common civility, courtesy and respect."
The decision angered students who felt the ban infringed on free speech and attempted to control their actions at home, according to the Record.
People who posted messages to a MySpace.com group dedicated to the school voiced concerns over the new policy.
One person claiming to be a student said the school should allow students to continue to use MySpace.com.
"Why is it that private schools think that they have the right to take away a student's rights," the user said.
"Schools should only be concerned of 2 things: a student's education and a student's safety but only if it is in the boundaries of the school," the user said. "It is not as if we are doing anything obsene [sic], we are just expressing who we are in a web page."
Another user claiming to be a student said the school "seems to really be pushing things with the Internet" this year.
McHugh said he believes Web sites such as MySpace.com are fertile breeding grounds for sexual predators to gather information about students, according to the Record.
"If this protects one child from being near-abducted or harassed or preyed upon, I make no apologies for this stance," McHugh told the community paper.
Free speech advocates have questioned McHugh's stance.
"It's an incredible overreaction based on an unproven problem," said Kevin Bankston, staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, to the Record. "If they're concerned about safety, they could train students in what they should or shouldn't put online. Kids shouldn't be robbed of the primary communication tool of their generation."
But in the realm of logic, why should a private school seek to dictate what the students do at home as long as it is legal?
That's correct. Whomever does not like it, can take their kids somewhere else.
Personally I find it... a bit excessive, but again - it is a private school, and its a personal choice. Nice to have those.
It's not censorship, it's idiotic.
It's not illegal censorship. It is censorship. You give up a lot of rights to attend Catholic school or to work there but it's consensual.
An interesting test case would be a student who has a blog that only covers the news. But I still think it would be be legal to suspend him.
Warm fuzzy trumps the 1st Amendment for the (suspected leftist) principal.
What would be the outcry if this were a PUBLIC school?...........
Hell would be raised because this is absolutely stupid. Just think if the government required government employees from coming onto FR.
The decision angered students who felt the ban infringed on free speech and attempted to control their actions at home, according to the Record.
It's not censorship, but it may be overstepping their bounds if the school is attempting to control what the students do while at their own homes. The school could encourage parents to not allow the students to use those services if the school feels it not in the students best interests to do so. Being a private school, they are of course free to set whatever standards for continued participation that they choose, but there is also some obligation on their part to make those standards both reasonable, and reasonably related to the job of educating the students.
Now, sending a letter to the parents, explaining his stand, pointing out that posting too much personal info can make their kid a target, etc. would not be out of line.
"What would be the outcry if this were a PUBLIC school?..........."
It would be clearly illegal if it were a public school. But it's not.
i have a myspace page and i love it. i keep in touch with my friends and have met great new friends. no one can find your address or any personal info about you unless you give it to them. just be smart about it and don't be manipulated. that is where decent parenting comes in.
Two Words: HATCH ACT.........Google it......
"If they're concerned about safety, they could train students in what they should or shouldn't put online. Kids shouldn't be robbed of the primary communication tool of their generation."
This bears repeating. . .
Private schools are free to be run as they please, but they have clearly crossed they line here as to what is within their realm of control.
If by some chance a child posts such information on the net and uses school computers to access it or upload it and the child is abducted, the school is now protected in some measure from a civil lawsuit.
If the parents are asked to sign a paper acknowledging that the school isn't allowing children to do this stuff, then they have a harder time turning around and suing the school if their child violates school rules.
All fine and well but it's absolute nonsense. It is the parents' place to decide if it is appropriate for their kid to do this, not the school. It is not being done on school time or with school supplies or with school monies. Unless this was specifically spelled out in the Code of Conduct (which, if it was is aburd also), this is unacceptable.
Why would it be "clearly illegal" in a public school if the reasons were the same?........
It is not government censorship. It is a private school, and can make its own rules. Anyone saying this "goes over the line" is, in effect, calling for the complete ban of private discretion.
However, I see this as an over-reach, and I believe it will cause a lot of upheaval at the school. That is the tradeoff the principal made when this decree came out.
I'd even be willing to entertain that the reason behind the ban is the posting of embarrassing or troubling info regarding the school.
Private schools can have all sorts of regulations about what students can do away from school as part of their contract with the students.
For example when I was a teaching we got a transfer student that had been expelled. A school had a 24/7 policy against smoking. The daughter of the headmaster was on a family vacation trip to Hawaii and was caught with a cigarette. When they returned to Atlanta he expelled his own daughter...
She responded by dating the nastiest punk rocker she could find who wound up bringing a gun to school to impress her with his bravado.
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