Principal calling parents about kids xanga site

[CruiserDew37]

I dont know how many of you are familiar with xanga or any online journals, but at my brother's (13 yr old) school, its really popular with the middle school kids and most of them have one. Yesterday his principal somehow found everyone's site and read all of them. She then proceeded to call the parents about them. She said that some of the stuff said in these journals was kids saying stuff that they didnt likke about the school or the teachers at school and that she does not approve of this. This is a website that these kids go on at home, and not at school and is completely un connected to school. I see this as an invasion of privacy, and even if some kid said Mrs. Smith is a *, thats still their right to say it, whether its nice or not. This is like a big brother 'watching over you'. It really just creeps me out, personally. What do you think?

ETA: No threats were made in any journals, and they are not password protected

 

[Bob Slydell]

It's a little wierd that the Principal would take the time to search out these journals, but it hardly qualifies as an invasion of privacy, assuming a password isn't needed to read the journals.

 

[Mermaid02]

My Mother always says, "If you don't want the world to know something- don't put it in writing."
But I think the Principal overstepped by calling the kids parents. Unless he/she read something dangerous......

 

[DisDuck]

Absolutely an invasion of privacy. How did the principal get a hold of this site? No safeguards like passwords, etc. Could he read journals of students from another school?

 

[RyMickey]

I agree with you. If the kids are saying that they simply don't like their teachers or other students (despite whatever language they may be using), I think it's fine. If the principal had come across threats, I could see it being an issue, but these things are simply online journals that I think provide a place for kids to vent. I don't really see anything wrong with that.

I'm sure that won't be a popular opinion on these boards, though .

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I voted it was an invasion of privacy but then read Bob's post. True, anyone can read what is online but I don't think the principal should have contacted the parents specifically. Maybe just let the parents know they should be checking the journals themselves.

I was checking my college age DD's journal. After I questioned her about some of the entries, she made it password protected. She is an adult so there is nothing I can do about it.

This would be like the principal asking kids to bring in their diaries then commenting on the contents.

Interesting topic.

 

[RyMickey]

Absolutely an invasion of privacy. How did the principal get a hold of this site? No safeguards like passwords, etc. Could he read journals of students from another school?

For a college class I took, we had to use xanga to keep a classroom journal. We needed a password to access the blog. I'm not certain that all blogs need a password, though.

If no passwords are needed, the principal could probably search for "YOUR SCHOOL'S NAME HERE" and find blogs that mentioned the school.

 

[pixiedust23]

Something similar happened many years ago when I was still in hs. BTW it's not an invasion of privacy AT ALL. These kids post stuff on the internet for people to read. Hello?!?! We could all go and read them if we wanted to! That's what they are there for. As for calling the parents, the OP doesnt say exactly what was stated on the websites about the teachers. The website that was discovered when I was in hs was a site that basically bashed all of our teachers. The student got in big time trouble as he should have.

 

[OhMari]

She probably read some and kids are dumb enough to make links on their sites and that is how she got to other sites.

My dd and her friend made on-line journal pages and I had to tell them, they can't put all that information about themselves on a web page. They had everything, names, addresses. My dd told me about it the next day after they did it and we went in and erased almost everything.

Parenting never ever stops.

 

[Bob Slydell]

True, anyone can read what is online but I don't think the principal should have contacted the parents specifically.

That's true. I still don't think it's invasion of privacy, though. Odd and a little creepy, yes, invasion, no.

Again, this depends on whether there's a password to access the journal.

 

[DoeWDW]

I voted no opinion only because the poll choices didn't quite fit my opinion.

Should the principal be able to read the Xanga journals? They are posted publicly for anyone to read so she did nothing wrong by reading them.

Should she have called the parents? I think a call was warranted only if she read something that was dangerous or threatening. I think she just cut off a good source of information because the kids will now take their views more "underground" where they can't be seen AND she blew any trust these kids had in her.

 

[Blondy876]

I don't think its an invasion of privacy at all. If its posted on the net without a password its fair game. However, the principal was way out of line calling the parents.

It is the end of the school year and the principal should be busy, how does he have time to read everyones journals?

 

[christinadei]

I voted it was an invasion of privacy but then read Bob's post. True, anyone can read what is online but I don't think the principal should have contacted the parents specifically. Maybe just let the parents know they should be checking the journals themselves.

Interesting topic.

Me too. I agree 100%. The principle probably had every right to read them, but no right to call the parents. That's just being nosy. She's a principle, they are twees/teens, naturally lots of kids are going to hate her. Come on, grow up lady.

 

[jgmklmhem]

If the principal had hacked the site to get at the entries then that would be an invasion of privacy.....but if it is open for the world to read and the principal stumbled onto it or was tipped to the entries then I don't see a privacy issue. Similar to these message boards anyone can read them and if you put out enough info people can figure out who you are. As far as contacting the parents...it depends on what was written as to whether or not a call should be made.

 

[DisDuck]

As I never heard about 'xanga' I made an assumption; therefore, I withdraw my comment on 'invasion of privacy'. There is no presumption of privacy in a public forum. However, the principal calling parents is another story. The principal just forced these children more 'underground' and lost trust which is a very important commodity.

You know the old 'sticks and stones may break our bones but names will never hurt me'. We all have fustrations and 'vents' on issues and it is better to get them out written (or verbal) rather than physical.

 

[transparant]

That's true. I still don't think it's invasion of privacy, though. Odd and a little creepy, yes, invasion, no.

Again, this depends on whether there's a password to access the journal.

I agree with you. I'm pretty cetain that passwords are not needed. With my sons high school...all the kids list each others journals under the high school name. Some of the stuff you read would make you

 

[SillyMe]

My dd and her friends all have xanga online journals. If they don't have passwords, they are open for anyone to read, so it wasn't an invasion of their privacy.

That being said, the principal overstepped her boundaries by calling the parents. The only way I would support her calling parents is if there were any threats made.

It's the parents job to monitor what the kids do on their home computers, not the school principal.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Invansion of privacy - no. Not since these were posted to a public journaling site. Obviously the principal didn't need passwords to access the writings. Calling the parents - not necessary, unless there was something written that warrants contacting a parent personally.

 

[supercarrie]

Assuming the entries were marking "public" then I don't believe its an invasion of privacy. (Xanga has 3 settings for postings - public (anyone can view them), protected (only people with Xanga IDs that you manually approve can view them), and private (only while logged in with your ID do the entries appear.) If its a public entry, then obviously people can and will view them - that is what that setting is for. However, I don't think the principal should have called the parents to complain about what the students said. I believe it's their right to express their opinions. If there was content which caused the principal to think a student or students might be at risk, then make a phone call. Otherwise, leave it alone.

 

[ThAnswr]

I dont know how many of you are familiar with xanga or any online journals, but at my brother's (13 yr old) school, its really popular with the middle school kids and most of them have one. Yesterday his principal somehow found everyone's site and read all of them. She then proceeded to call the parents about them. She said that some of the stuff said in these journals was kids saying stuff that they didnt likke about the school or the teachers at school and that she does not approve of this. This is a website that these kids go on at home, and not at school and is completely un connected to school. I see this as an invasion of privacy, and even if some kid said Mrs. Smith is a b*tch, thats still their right to say it, whether its nice or not. This is like a big brother 'watching over you'. It really just creeps me out, personally. What do you think?

This principal has too much time on her hands in addition to having, as Ann Landers use to say, "strudel in her noodle".