Protect the children ..... and the teachers

The magazine Wired News carried a sad and rather disconcerting tale last week. I have just been too busy until now to post it, but I have discussed it with my students and they are more disturbed by it than they were on the day I gave them their asignment task. It appears that a teacher in an American high school - substitute teacher Julie Amero of Norwich, Connecticut - has this week been sentenced to 40 years in a state penitentiary. Her crime? She is accused of showing Internet pornography to the 12-13 year old children in her class.

Shock horrors! I hear you cry - lock her up and throw away the key!!

But hold on - let's not be so hasty. Before you make your mind up, here's a further account of her 'crime'. She claims -- and all the evidence proves -- that the school computer got hit with a pop-up frenzy she didn't know how to stop. The report goes on to detail the following information: 'The IT department failed to keep content filters and anti-malware software up-to-date. The school failed to enforce a security policy, allowing substitute teachers to use regular teachers' network credentials to access the internet. The administration failed to ensure that all teachers, including substitutes, had the necessary skills and training to handle internet surprises -- and the savvy to respond quickly in a crisis'. (Wired, February 23, 2007)

Whilst you and I both know that protecting the growing minds of the children in our care is paramount, and whether or not the teacher is guilty, this case raises some key questions: I feel particularly uneasy about the vulnerability of teachers who venture onto the web during lessons. Certainly all teachers should pre-visit the sites they want to show children before the children are present, and 'filter' out the bad stuff. But this doesn't protect them from 'pop-up' frenzies, particularly if the school isn't interested in investing in software and training to ensure this kind of event doesn't happen. What is the responsibility of the employer (the school) in all this? Will the school also be prosecuted? I think we should be told....