Hi gang,
I work in an IT Dept in a school. This is a Carrer and Technology school where there are both teenage and adult students. A few weeks ago the Executive assistant brought a subsitute teacher in to my office at the end of the day. The exec. assistant began by saying “I don’t know if you’re the one to see, but..” and the substitute finished the story by explaining that she was walking through the class as the students were working and saw one of the boys watching something pretty risque online. When she challeneged the student, he responded that it was just “CBS”. He had been watching Big Brother.
She had all the appeareance of just wanting to help, and was suggesting that we might block this particular site. Because she was a new sub for us, I took a little time to explain some of our policies and how we go about blocking certain sites, what we are required to block, and the red tape of blocking too much.
And then I really did it. I mentioned Julie Amero, the sub that was/is (I haven’t heard an update on this in sometime) facing 40 years in prison for her students viewing pornography on her watch. I brought that up as I thanked her for taking time to share with us what students were doing. As I saw the shock in her eyes, I explained in breif that there were some “shady circumstances” surrounding the entire ordeal with Ms. Amero.
Several days later, the executive assistant approached me in the hall, and in so many words said “thanks for running off the new sub”….. I suggested making an appoinment to further explain the situation, but it never happened. I even received a slap on the wrist from the Superintendent. Although it was a very gentle slap, I feel as though my intent was just to educate. I was told “you need to be careful what you say”.
Working in a school, and having my wife as one of the teachers, it has always been my goal to educate ALL my users about the potential dangers the internet has. Some of my users are still living fat dumb and happy. Many of their students access porn via proxy, peer to peer apps, etc. Was I wrong? What in those few moments could I or should I have done differently? I feel bad for the loss of the sub. She has said she will never work around PC’s ever again. Would you have said anything?
