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Nancy Willard nwillard@CSRIU.ORG <mailto:nwillard@CSRIU.ORG> wrote: Now here is an interesting story. Oz students' alleged hate site It's every school's nightmare these days: a hate site published by students about their teachers. A state education department in Australia will be investigating issues surrounding a site that "called for teachers to be executed, burnt or sent to 'Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp. 'It also called some teachers 'child molesters'," Australian IT reports ….>>>UNSNIP Dear All, Didn’t read any of the online news reports, but the radio news at the time named one of New South Wales “top” government schools; it is a Selective High School – I don’t know if you have them in the US, but students are selected for enrolment on the basis of an optional, external examination during their final year of primary school (Year 6). Entry is *very* competitive. See: http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/types/selectiveschools.php for the official blub. A colleague (who worked in the school named by the media) stated that “nearly 100%” of the students undertook extra private tutoring outside school hours, in order to meet the rigorous academic demands of the school, and that this was not unique to that particular selective high school; it’s common in all of them. Could it be that the problem was not within the school itself, but maybe with the system? Or possibly with societal expectations? We’re talking kids of age 12 and up … what sort of stress does that type of academic competitiveness create? Thoughts from the netters’ collective wisdom? Amanda Credaro Editor: Warrior Librarian Weekly http://www.warriorlibrarian.com <http://www.warriorlibrarian.com/> Author: Biblia’s Guide to Warrior Librarianship http://warriorlibrarian.com/buythebook.html <http://warriorlibrarian.com/buythebook.html> Day Job: Project Officer – Center for Learning Innovation, OTEN E-mail: amanda.credaro@det.nsw.edu.au <mailto:amanda.credaro@det.nsw.edu.au> (work) abcredaro@ozemail.com.au <mailto:abcredaro@ozemail.com.au> (home) Nancy Willard nwillard@CSRIU.ORG <mailto:nwillard@CSRIU.ORG> wrote: Subject: Hate web site aimed at teachers Now here is an interesting story. Oz students' alleged hate site It's every school's nightmare these days: a hate site published by students about their teachers. A state education department in Australia will be investigating issues surrounding a site that "called for teachers to be executed, burnt or sent to 'Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp. 'It also called some teachers 'child molesters'," Australian IT reports <http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10562000%5E15306%5E%5Enbv% 5E,00.html>. The site, alleged to have been created by high school students, was online for about three days in July before it was shut down. The New South Wales Education Department will review the suburban Sydney school's operations, its management, academic results, student welfare, inappropriate use of the Internet, and discipline. What I have been saying for a number of years now is that web sites established by students that target teachers or a school with this kind of anger should be viewed as a "teachable moment" for the school to see itself through the eyes of some students. These kinds of sites should be viewed as "cries for help." There is something very wrong when a student or students communicate at this level. That is, I do not believe that happy students who feel supported and encouraged by the school "community" and their parents would create such a web site. It is imperative to figure out where things are going wrong -- and remedy the situation at that level. It looks like someone at the South Wales Education Department is very astute. I am working on professional development materials for educators to address these kinds of situations. Briefly, steps to follow include: Save the evidence. Download all pages of the site. Try to identify the creator(s) of the site, if such information can be readily ascertained. But take care. A student may be masquerading as another student. Conduct a preliminary threat assessment. It is probable that the threat assessment should be considered preliminary until such time as the creator(s) of the site are accurately identified. The threat assessment should allow an administrator to distinguish between - Legitimate, yet discomfort-provoking, protest speech that is challenging authority. - Speech that is truly harmful to the school or a staff member, such as defamation or invasion of privacy. - Speech that constitutes a material or substantial threat of disruption or violence at school. Based on the conclusions of that threat assessment, decide whether or not to contact law enforcement. If the perpetrator is unknown, it would likely be better to err on the side of contacting law enforcement. These folks are likely better able to identify the perpetrator. If the site is truly harmful or a threat, take steps to remove the site. This usually will simply require a contact to the web host because such sites are almost always in violation of the web host's terms and conditions. In the US, if this site were created off-campus, school officials could only intervene with discipline if there was a substantial and material threat of disruption at school. This is the free speech legal standard. There have not been any cases that evaluate free speech issues in the context os school safety threat analysis. -- Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D. Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use http://csriu.org nwillard@csriu.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. 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