In toney Eden Prairie, Minnesota, high school students have been busted. Busted by dozens of photos they or their friends have posted on their profile pages found on social networking pages like Facebook (see the previous post about this story as it broke on Jan. 9).
So far, 42 students have been disciplined and 13 have been suspended from school sanctioned extracurricular activities – activities in which many students signed a pledge to abstain from using alcohol or drugs or face consequences.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports today that students organized a classroom walkout today due to the controversy of whether or not school administrators have any authority over photographs and content found on Facebook. Not only that, apparently some parents are talking to lawyers to see if they can sue the school for taking measures they view as “too harsh” for the indiscretions and stupidity of their children.
It seems (as has been done through the ages) kids will be kids. I drank when I was 17 years old. In fact, I drank beers before, during and after high school events that I was involved in. I did not, however, share pictures of my activity with teachers, friends or parents in any public way. But today, with the accessibility of the Internet, these kids checked their brains at the login window and chose to upload photos of themselves at parties, holding beers or cups of beverages believed to contain alcohol. The school administrators were presented with the evidence and felt obligated to take action. Case closed.
Except not only do the kids affected by the district’s discipline policy feel it’s too harsh, but so do the parents – who apparently also checked their brains at the door.
Helloooooo! Your child is consuming alcohol and brazenly posting pictures of their actions on public web sites. If you don’t want the school district to interfere and discipline then perhaps you should pull your heads out of your asses and be the parents!
-end-
Exactly. But…well, I guess because my mother spied on my EVERY MOVE even when I wasn’t leaving the house, it’s just sort of creepy to me, breaking law or not.
So I’m speaking with much bias.
I think the photos from the facebook pages were presented to the school administration by a parent or perhaps by a student. The administration wasn’t surfing Facebook looking for law breaking students…at least that’s what I’ve heard.
My daughter has a Facebook page. I stay away from it. It’s hers and we’ve had conversations about what’s appropriate and what’s not. I trust her to be smart with it. Her friends or enemies are another matter.
brilliantly stated.