Catholic school bans pupils from MySpace

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Catholic school bans pupils from MySpace
detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703220463

BLOOMFIELD HILLS – Students at a suburban Catholic school are being ordered to take down their photos, snappy comments, or anything else they may have posted on MySpace.com.

Friday is the deadline for students at St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School to follow orders or risk suspension. School Principal Sister Margaret Van Velzen sent letters home to parents this week saying, in part, that if families allow children to continue their MySpace.com sites, they will not be allowed to return to school.

The school plans to use its computer-savvy staff members to monitor the site for student activity.The principal declined comment, but St. Hugo office manager Judy Martinek said the principal just wants to keep the students safe.

I don’t know if this is going to hold up. It’s a good idea because myspace is used too much by kids in general and there are lots of predators out there but if it is on your personal comupter at home i don’t know if you can legal ban someone from doing something in the privacy of their own home.
 
Despite Myspace being a problem…it should not be in the rights of the school to prevent children from using the website at home. Ban it from school, but their authority does not extend to their house.
 
Gnosis said:
Despite Myspace being a problem…it should not be in the rights of the school to prevent children from using the website at home. Ban it from school, but their authority does not extend to their house.
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I agree…the parents should have already banned it.
 
Gnosis said:
Despite Myspace being a problem…it should not be in the rights of the school to prevent children from using the website at home. Ban it from school, but their authority does not extend to their house.
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It is a private school. If they don’t like it, they can send their children to a secularized school.
 
Gnosis said:
Despite Myspace being a problem…it should not be in the rights of the school to prevent children from using the website at home. Ban it from school, but their authority does not extend to their house.
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I agree. They should not ban them from using Myspace at home.
 
kell0618 said:
It is a private school. If they don’t like it, they can send their children to a secularized school.
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That is correct, it is a private school. If they do not like it, they can go somewhere else. 👍

Here is another article on the situation:
School’s Policy Prohibits Use Of MySpace Site
Thu Mar 22, 7:29 PM ET
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One Bloomfield Hills school is enforcing a new policy that will end the use of a popular Web site on the premises.
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St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School students were informed recently that under a new school policy, Think First, Stay Safe, the use of MySpace.com will be prohibited at school and at home.
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Full Story
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Looks like the majority of the parents have no problem with it.
 
My son’s Catholic High School has sent home letters warning us what the site is and that we should check it out. One student was disciplined due to writing something about a teacher on their space. However, they did not ban it.

I think it is controversial, and I wonder if more schools will ban it.
 
Sorry, but no. A Private or not. There rights DO NOT extend into the home.

Whats next banning students from owning a video game consel?
 
cyberwolf001 said:
Sorry, but no. A Private or not. There rights DO NOT extend into the home.

Whats next banning students from owning a video game consel?
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If they want to do that, yes. Unlike public institutions, private institutions can make requirements like this.
 
WanderAimlessly said:
If they want to do that, yes. Unlike public institutions, private institutions can make requirements like this.
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Yes but I remember a Judge saying “In a Civilized society no one is above the law” and that includes Private Institutions. However that isn’t always enforced by the Courts.
 
To follow up with my last post let me enlarge what I wish to say.

As some of you may have heard in the news, Myspace is a website where some young kids have met predators online to meet them. Now what percentage of that takes place I can’t say but it is frightening that it is taking place.

If the school is banning its students from using Myspace for that reason, while I can sympathize, I can not condone it. What goes on in the home is and must shall be the domain of the parents. I am single but if I was married and had kids I would certainly supervise ANY time they spend on the Internet.

Myspace isn’t all about sex and predators, like Yahoo they have good Catholic groups on there and can enlighten Catholic teens to good issues and information.

It scares me when schools dictate what goes on in the home. It is none of their business and is completely unenforceable. How would they be able to know? User information can be easily changed with a click and mouse and unless they employ students as snitches to rat out other students who use it I can’t see how they would be able to do it.
 
childofmary1143 said:
Yes but I remember a Judge saying “In a Civilized society no one is above the law” and that includes Private Institutions. However that isn’t always enforced by the Courts.
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Just because one judge (can you give us his name?) says so, does not make it true. Courts have held that private institutions can make their own rules for membership.

If the opposite was true, there would be no true private institutions and you would have a Communistic state.
 
WanderAimlessly said:
Just because one judge (can you give us his name?) says so, does not make it true. Courts have held that private institutions can make their own rules for membership.
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I don’t know know his name but it was a Canadian Judge FYI.
If the opposite was true, there would be no true private institutions and you would have a Communistic state.
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There is nothing more “Private” than what people do in their own homes. Yet is it communistic when the Laws of the Land say you can’t do drugs? No of course not.

Even though its a “Private” school, it is still a school nonetheless. A school that has to and should comply with Education curriculum that the Law says has to be taught. So how “Private” is it really? Also it is none of the school’s business to dictate what students can do and can’t do in their spare time.

A Dictatorship may not be communistic (or maybe it is) but it is against democracy.
 
Private institution or not, state and federal money is also involved. Might there be an issue with regard to the governmental funding?

For what it is worth, I don’t care for Myspace, however, I think that Catholic schools have bigger fish to fry.
 
ppppppp said:
just school prpotery
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well I have no problem with that. I remember in High School I took a law class and the teacher taught us a Latin Legal term called Ultra Vires meaning “beyond the power”. The teacher gave us an example that the Mayor of our city can’t make a declaration of war against another country. It is not in the school’s mandate whether private or public to say what students can or can’t do in the privacy of their own home.
 
private institutions can make requirements like this.
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Maybe they CAN, but SHOULD they? It’s an unwarranted intrusion on parental authority and contradicts all the “parents are the primary and most important educators of their children” rhetoric that our Catholic school frequently uses. My kids have never been allowed to use My Space or instant messaging or other message boards – by my husband’s and my authority. Our children, our responsibility, our judgment call. BUT – if we decided to allow our kids to use My Space and we supervised their use of it so that it was safe and appropriate for our children – the school would have no right to come into our home and supercede our authority, private school or not. What other decisions should private schools have the right to make in our home?

Honestly – those of you who agree and say that if we don’t like it we can send our kids to a secular school, is there any limit for you? If I grounded my child does the school have the right to look over my shoulder and decide that she should be able to talk on the phone, just not go out? What about TV shows? Does the private school have the right to send home a list of programs my children can and cannot watch at home? Magazines? Books we check out of the library? Computer games? How about friends? Can the private school, if the principal is so inclined, determine for my husband and myself who are and are not appropriate friends for our children?

We pay for a Catholic school to supplement our education of our children, not to substitute for us. Usually, the school completely agrees with this, and recognizes that it is not equipped to assume primary responsibility for the students. This principal overstepped her bounds, even though I agree with the substance of her decision.
 
The big question is:

How do they know that I have a myspace account?
How do they know my username on myspace?

Do they have Secret police/spys on every corner the way they do in Cuba reporting what we do inside our home to fidel?

Unless they are spying inside my house, they will never know my myspace account, thats how it should be too.

Don’t ask if I have myspace, Don’t tell them you do.

Suspend someone who uses it at school., Yes this is appropriate.
If it doesnt go on at school, its not relevant and the only way they will find out about it will be by spys or gossip. Both of which are unchristian, and do have a certain ring of totalitarian/facist/communist ideas. Myspace may be a terrible site generally speaking, I hate it in many ways and discourage it as well but its not possible to monitor who uses it.

Remember Rupert Murdoch does own Myspace, what else does he own? Oh, Fox news too! WOW “conservative news” and pornographic web site? what a combination. Thats the USA for us, Corporate manipulation all the way.
 
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