What would you do...son's website!!

[nwdisgal]

And....................even so remotely miniscule that anyone would have acted on the knowledge.
I saw something here on the DIS a few years back that actually stated the EXTREMELY small (.000000001) percent of child crimes that originate from stranger internet encounters. They are usually contacts in chat rooms etc that you need to be concerned about. In other words we need to be more concerned w/ who our kids are in contact with on the intenet than a total stranger 1) stumbling across the internet page in queston 2) determining how to contact the boy from this site 3) gaining access to the client.

I agree that it is good to be diligent about keeping an eye on your kids internet activities and informing them of internet danger. That said, I see all this focus and concern on the internet, and people seem to be losing site of the greater issue at hand. Just recently we had a child preditor in our area with over fifty accusers that came forward. Did he meet them on the internet? No, he was a priest at a local parish. I always read on DIS about Internet danger. I rarely read a post where parents are worried about people their kids are coming in contact with at sports, church and other social activities where potential preditors have easy and often unsuspected access to kids.

 

[buddy&wooz]

I agree that it is good to be diligent about keeping an eye on your kids internet activities and informing them of internet danger. That said, I see all this focus and concern on the internet, and people seem to be losing site of the greater issue at hand. Just recently we had a child preditor in our area with over fifty accusers that came forward. Did he meet them on the internet? No, he was a priest at a local parish. I always read on DIS about Internet danger. I rarely read a post where parents are worried about people their kids are coming in contact with at sports, church and other social activities where potential preditors have easy and often unsuspected access to kids.

Exactly.

And think about it- for years kids have had their personal information readily accessible. An example- your kid gets his picture taken at school or during an activity and he's in the local paper. There's his photo, his name, maybe his school, maybe his teacher, or coach, his friends- yet rarely do you hear of someone complaining about something like that. In fact the typical reaction that I've seen is pride, buying up the papers to give to family and friends, etc.

Internet safety is important, and the teacher was wrong to allow the child to include identifying information on his website, but I think it's important not to lose perspective, either.

 

[kimmar067]

Exactly.

And think about it- for years kids have had their personal information readily accessible. An example- your kid gets his picture taken at school or during an activity and he's in the local paper. There's his photo, his name, maybe his school, maybe his teacher, or coach, his friends- yet rarely do you hear of someone complaining about something like that. In fact the typical reaction that I've seen is pride, buying up the papers to give to family and friends, etc.

Internet safety is important, and the teacher was wrong to allow the child to include identifying information on his website, but I think it's important not to lose perspective, either.

...while I do somewhat agree with you and I understand what you are saying, the bottom line is this: The teacher DID NOT have permission to do this WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT. The fact that anyone may or may not have viewed it is almost irrelevant - the scarier part is how EASILY it was done......

(I must also stress that there is some OTHER information [that I am not at liberty to say] to this story which has not been divulged, which is part of the reason for the 'overreaction'..... )

 

[kaylajr]

I say Not Overreacting at all

the teacher DID NOT HAVE permission and that says it all

I would be upset if The school did this with either of my girls too.

 

[eeyoresmountainpals]

I agree that it is good to be diligent about keeping an eye on your kids internet activities and informing them of internet danger. That said, I see all this focus and concern on the internet, and people seem to be losing site of the greater issue at hand. Just recently we had a child preditor in our area with over fifty accusers that came forward. Did he meet them on the internet? No, he was a priest at a local parish. I always read on DIS about Internet danger. I rarely read a post where parents are worried about people their kids are coming in contact with at sports, church and other social activities where potential preditors have easy and often unsuspected access to kids.

You probably don't read posts about parents being worried about who their kids are coming in contact with at sports events, church events, etc. because these are the everyday things that we all do and we know that we all have to be diligent about possible dangers every day. That's what we as parents do. That's a responsibility that we take on when we become a parent. Because, you are 100% right, unfortunately there is danger and the possibility of weirdos everywhere!

The main issue here though, is that this teacher put my son - any my family for that matter - in a possibly dangerous position by doing something that she did not have permission to do and did not have the right to do.

Look at it this way -

The teacher had permission to take my child on on a field trip "to the internet" much like you may give your child's teacher permission to take your child to a sports event. There can be weirdos and dangers in both places. But that is a risk with anything. Would you not be upset your child's teacher, for whatever reason, decided - without your permission - that while your child was at the sporting event he/she should wear a big name tag with his/her first and last name, should be identified by school name, school address, school phone number, family and hobby information and just in case that isn't enough information the teacher includes directions to the school so that someone can follow your child home from the field trip. Think about it.

Although many of you have said that I am overreacting, I feel that most think I'm not and I feel justified in feeling the way that I do. It all comes back to the fact that I do everything I possibly can to keep my children safe and I expect a teacher to do the same in my absence.

 

[tubachick]

I say NOT OVERREACTING at all.

I am suprised that the school still has it up even after you brought it to their attention.

Hopefully they will fix this "situation" quickly and that no one has seen it.

sorry this had to happen to your DS (and your family)

 

[kendall]

I agree that the teacher should not have posted all that information online. There are ways to structure the assignment of website creation that still taps student interest that could be published without publishing personal information. For example, each student could create a website about a favorite sport, hobby, etc. with multiple pages. Definitely a huge mistep on the teacher's part, and probably in violation of the school's own acceptable use policy. OP, ask to see the school's acceptable use policy - and if your school doesn't have one, they should develop one. The IT person may or may not be able to give you website statistics for your son's page, it depends on what tools they have available to monitor the website.

On a larger issue, I find it interesting that schools often have the policy of NOT publishing names with photos of students on the school website, yet a school (or parents, coaches, community members) will submit a photo and names (and articles) to the local newspaper for publication - and that article and photo gets printed in traditional print form AND ends up in the online version of the newspaper (and therefore archived) - and we don't think a thing about it.

Yes, there are creepy people out there. Yes, the OP is correct in that the assignment resulted in too much personal information published with this particular assignment. Yes, we need to teach our kids about stranger danger. And yes, sometimes we overreact with regard to our children's safety - we want to keep them safe because we recognize that danger can take many forms today. So let's give the kids the tools and knowledge to recognize and deal with the dangers.

 

[grlpwrd]

...

(I must also stress that there is some OTHER information [that I am not at liberty to say] to this story which has not been divulged, which is part of the reason for the 'overreaction'..... )

Huh? There's more to this story that you personally know about?

 

[eeyoresmountainpals]

I say NOT OVERREACTING at all.

I am suprised that the school still has it up even after you brought it to their attention.

Hopefully they will fix this "situation" quickly and that no one has seen it.

sorry this had to happen to your DS (and your family)

The school did take it down once it was brought to their attention.

 

[eeyoresmountainpals]

I agree that the teacher should not have posted all that information online. There are ways to structure the assignment of website creation that still taps student interest that could be published without publishing personal information. For example, each student could create a website about a favorite sport, hobby, etc. with multiple pages. Definitely a huge mistep on the teacher's part, and probably in violation of the school's own acceptable use policy. OP, ask to see the school's acceptable use policy - and if your school doesn't have one, they should develop one. The IT person may or may not be able to give you website statistics for your son's page, it depends on what tools they have available to monitor the website.

On a larger issue, I find it interesting that schools often have the policy of NOT publishing names with photos of students on the school website, yet a school (or parents, coaches, community members) will submit a photo and names (and articles) to the local newspaper for publication - and that article and photo gets printed in traditional print form AND ends up in the online version of the newspaper (and therefore archived) - and we don't think a thing about it.

Yes, there are creepy people out there. Yes, the OP is correct in that the assignment resulted in too much personal information published with this particular assignment. Yes, we need to teach our kids about stranger danger. And yes, sometimes we overreact with regard to our children's safety - we want to keep them safe because we recognize that danger can take many forms today. So let's give the kids the tools and knowledge to recognize and deal with the dangers.

We did ask to see the "Acceptable Use Policy" and several parts of the policy were violated by the teacher.

We did sign a permission form at the beginning of the year for internet usage that outlined what could and could not be included on the internet. As of today (almost a week later) the school has not been able to "find" DSs signed form. We do have another child that attends the same school and they've found his form. Even with signing the form giving the broadest permission this incident goes above and beyond and permission given.

We also have to sign permission forms at the begining of the year to allow the school to send pictures to the newspaper.

 

[kimmar067]

Huh? There's more to this story that you personally know about?

...

 

[eeyoresmountainpals]

Huh? There's more to this story that you personally know about?

DH is in law enforcement. Naturally, because of his line of work he has plenty of enemies. DS did post what his dad does for a living. So, this information being posted not only made DS a good target for some sexual predator or such but also a good kidnapping target.

DS does "know better" than to give out personal information like he did. We had gone over it and over it prior to this ever taking place. He knows the rules as far as not giving out info to strangers; on the phone, on the internet, anywhere! But it is one of those things that half the time kids don't listen to their own parents and sometimes need another adult - another authority figure - to get the message through to them! We've talked to DS about it since this incident and he said that he didn't think he was posting personal info, that he was just telling about his family which he is very proud of. He then asked me "if the info was too personal why didn't the teacher tell him so."

 

[kimmar067]

....

 

[Lyn5]

I don't think you over reacted at all. My DH has gone to many of the classes other posters described about internet safety and he is very protective of what information I post...and I am an adult

Besides, it doesn't matter what I think or anyone else. You keep taking care of your family the way you know is best

 

[nwdisgal]

You probably don't read posts about parents being worried about who their kids are coming in contact with at sports events, church events, etc. because these are the everyday things that we all do and we know that we all have to be diligent about possible dangers every day. That's what we as parents do. That's a responsibility that we take on when we become a parent. Because, you are 100% right, unfortunately there is danger and the possibility of weirdos everywhere!

The main issue here though, is that this teacher put my son - any my family for that matter - in a possibly dangerous position by doing something that she did not have permission to do and did not have the right to do.

Look at it this way -

The teacher had permission to take my child on on a field trip "to the internet" much like you may give your child's teacher permission to take your child to a sports event. There can be weirdos and dangers in both places. But that is a risk with anything. Would you not be upset your child's teacher, for whatever reason, decided - without your permission - that while your child was at the sporting event he/she should wear a big name tag with his/her first and last name, should be identified by school name, school address, school phone number, family and hobby information and just in case that isn't enough information the teacher includes directions to the school so that someone can follow your child home from the field trip. Think about it.

Although many of you have said that I am overreacting, I feel that most think I'm not and I feel justified in feeling the way that I do. It all comes back to the fact that I do everything I possibly can to keep my children safe and I expect a teacher to do the same in my absence.

I wasn't saying that you were overeacting, I would have been upset if a similiar situation happened to my kids. I was just trying to put out a reminder to parents about the larger situation at hand. Sorry, if you took it in some other manner.

 

[eeyoresmountainpals]

I wasn't saying that you were overeacting, I would have been upset if a similiar situation happened to my kids. I was just trying to put out a reminder about the larger situation at hand, not insight an argument or be lectured.

Goodbye.

Did not mean to lecture or argue! Sorry if it came across that way.

Thanks for your input!

 

[nwdisgal]

Did not mean to lecture or argue! Sorry if it came across that way.

Thanks for your input!

No problem, and no harm taken.

I'm sorry for being so testy today.

 

[momof2inPA]

The deed's been done, so what exactly do you want from the school? Do you want the teacher fired? You need to tell them exactly what you would like them to do.

Another thing, if I did a DIS search and a google search on your username, are you so sure that I couldn't find out the same information from your posts that the school posted. I bet I could at least find out your name, the town you live in, your husband's profession, your kids' names, and probably their hobbies-- and I'm not very good with computers.

 

[eeyoresmountainpals]

Wow! I really didn't realize I was going to end up needing a flame suit for this thread.

The deed's been done, so what exactly do you want from the school? Do you want the teacher fired? You need to tell them exactly what you would like them to do.

I would appreciate an apology from the teacher and/or her acknowledgement that she did wrong. I would like for her to tell me that it was not intentional (and I don't think it was). I would like to know that in the future she'll be more careful and that she won't let this type of thing happen to another child. And, no, I do not plan to tell the school that is what I would like. That's like forcing your child to go apologize for something.

No, I don't want the teacher fired. I would like to know that it's been documented in the teacher's personnel file but since that is a personnel issue I will never know that information.

Another thing, if I did a DIS search and a google search on your username, are you so sure that I couldn't find out the same information from your posts that the school posted. I bet I could at least find out your name, the town you live in, your husband's profession, your kids' names, and probably their hobbies-- and I'm not very good with computers.

You're welcome to try. Yes, you will find info here on the dis. I know that you'll find my real name, my kid's real names, info on the fact that my DH is in law enforcement, hobbies and you'll probably be able to figure out the geographical location I live in here in the US. You will not find any pictures of my DS or any of my kids, the city I live in (and I doubt even the county I live in), the name(s) and location(s) of the school(s) that my children attend and certainly not directions on how to get to my children's school(s)! But if you do want to find out all that info you're going to have to really invest some time. It's not going to be conveniently gathered together in one post here on the disboards as it was conveniently together on the combination of the school's and my son's webpage. However, if I had chosen to post all of that information that is my right to do that. It is not the teacher's or anyone else's right.

I didn't start this thread to stir up any controversy. I just wanted to know what other people thought of the situation. And most people, whether they thought whether they agreed with me 100% or thought I was overreacting, have all given their opinons in a courteous and thoughtful manner and I appreciate their input! But as I said at the top of this post, I never thought I'd have to get out my flame suit for this thread as I felt I needed for this post.

 

[DISUNC]

Wow! I really didn't realize I was going to end up needing a flame suit for this thread.
But as I said at the top of this post, I never thought I'd have to get out my flame suit for this thread as I felt I needed for this post.

On these Boards lately you have to wear your "flame suit" just for writing "Good Morning"!
Even I got flamed from another poster in this thread! ??????
Ignore the flamers! But don't ignore how the experience of having all this info put on the internet made you feel! It is not about how MANY or if NO people saw the website...It is Still a violation on your families privacy. And should be handled accordingly.

Good Morning!