TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites

Re: Schools Prohibit Personal E-mail Sites

Lisa Hancock (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com)
2 Jun 2005 13:41:46 -0700

Monty Solomon wrote:

> By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

> Boston Public School officials, who recently banned cellphone use
> during the school day, are angering students with a new prohibition:
> no checking or sending e-mail from Yahoo, Hotmail, or other personal
> Web-based accounts from school.

I don't see why this is a big deal. It's the school's computers and
they should be able to regulate them any way they choose. It's no
different from the workplace where an employer dictates what can and
cannot be done on his computers.

FWIW, back in junior high, we were forbidden to use even the payphones
without a note from a parents. I thought that was a bit tough and
never understood that rule. In HS they didn't care except when we
snuck a call on a school telephone.

Except in very special situations, kids shouldn't be using their
cellphones during school hours in the school building.

Thomas A. Horsley wrote:

> Gee. Shouldn't they also ban all other forms of communication? I'd
> think any media could be used for the same offensive stuff and trigger
> the same lawsuits. Perhaps they should just seal up all the students
> in barrels until they are old enough to graduate :-).

Sorry, but that's not how it works today. Like it or not, the schools
(as does businesses) have a very legitimate concern. If their
facilities are used utilized adversely, they could be held liable. As
such, they must protect themselves.

There was a newspaper article reporting that schools are a lot quicker
to suspend kids (a serious punishment) than in years past. It's not
that kids behave worse, but rather schools are afraid of a lawsuit
from an aggrieved parent if they fail to aggressively punish a
wrong-doer. Also, some schools are merely returning to discipline
standards they held in the past, but relaxed in more recent years.

In some ways, I think schools acting to prevent harassment/ bullying
between students is not such a bad idea.

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