************************************************************** Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround ************************************************************** Date: Fri, 2 May 2003 09:17:11 -0400 (EDT) From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> In business one may find the glass ceiling. In elementary secondary education, teachers may live somewhat in glass houses. The lives they lead off the job may be considered as part of how they are assessed on the job if certain moral and ethical lines are crossed. How teachers conduct themselves in what they do and say off of the job in political, social and publication circles may be held against them in the court of the school board. This desire to enforce certain moral principles on the publically visible lives of teachers off the job may come into a serious clash with Constitutional principles like the freedom of speech and expression as it would appear to have done in Western Pennsylvania in connection with this teacher's web page. ------------------------- School board: Teachers Personal Web Site is Grounds for Dismissal >From eSchool News Staff and Wire Service Reports April 29, 2003 <http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/ssunreg.cfm?ArticleID=4374&ul=%2Fnews%2Fs%20h%20ow% 20Story%2Ecfm%3FArticleID%3D4374> For those who prefer a short story to a novel, here is a shortened shortcut to this news story: <http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y2CA32B64> Excerpt of full story found at the above link: A high school teacher could be out of a job in a dispute over a personal web site he created before he was hired by a western Pennsylvania school district. But the states teachers union has vowed to defend his right to free expression on the web, arguing that the site has nothing to do with his in-school behavior. The Grove City Area School District placed music teacher and assistant band director Dan Konnen, 24, of Hermitage, Pa., on an unpaid suspension in March when students found his personal web site, which contains jokes about genitalia and scatological references extracted from the controversial Comedy Central cartoon series South Park, as well as other sources. When visited by an eSchool News reporter in April, the site said it was created in December 1997 and last updated in September 2001, meaning Konnen had updated it at least once since being hired by the school district in August 2001. Pennsylvania State Education Association attorney Tod Park, who is representing Konnen, said the web site doesnt contain pornography and Konnen didnt tell students about it. ----------------------- These websites are listed in the article: Dan Konnens web site http://www.geocities.com/d_konnen/index2.html Grove City Area School District http://www.grovecity.k12.pa.us McGuire Woods LLP http://www.mcguirewoods.com ----------------------- This is by no means a new issue and these links may be of interest to some of the members of this discussion group in this regard. It has been an issue for the private outside of school web pages of teachers and of students which have come under fire by those who rule school districts with an iron book of morality. On K-12 campus a related issue is of course filtering and of course the monitoring in school of student internet use. Here are some websites that contain news, documents or discussion of the off campus activities of those involved with schools that have entered the freedom of speech arena. STUDENT INTERNET FREE SPEECH RIGHTS <http://www.umkc.edu/safe-school/documents/monofs.pdf> A lesson plan for students on this topic: Freedom of Speech on the Internet Valorie Williams Community School District 5 New York, NY Topic: Does Internet filtering violate the First Amendment? <http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/crit3/williams1.html> Student's Free Speech Rights and the Interent <http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/studentfreespeach.html> SURVEY - SCHOOL POLICY - NET & WEBSITES <http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/Policy_Survey.html> American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom <http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Offices/Intellectual_Freedom3/Default622.htm> A Shorter Link <http://makeashorterlink.com/?T2DB16B64> Pennsylvania School Libraries Association Section of Page on Intellectual Freedom <http://www.psla.org/links/links.php3#freedom> A WebQuest on Laws and Their Implications for Schools <http://mason.gmu.edu/~dspragu1/lawquest.html> [Includes a section of links on intellectual freedom and a section regarding protecting children on the internet] The Constitutionality of Schools' Sanctioning Students for Derogatory E-Mails and Web Pages Phil McGargill Cyber-Law Seminar April 2, 2002 [20020409] <http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/cls02/pmcgarg1.html> PATHFINDER Censorship in Schools <http://courses.unt.edu/chandler/PATHFINDERS/spring1998/CENSORSHIP/pathfind.htm> Academic Freedom Of Individual Professors And Higher Education Institutions: The Current Legal Landscape Donna R. Euben, Staff Counsel May, 2002 American Association of University Professors [Obviously College Level Rather Than K-12] <http://www.aaup.org/Com-a/aeuben.HTM> Creating and Defending Civility and Safety in Public Schools: A Legal Guide for Teachers, Administrators, and the Community <http://www.communityinterest.org/alliance/safe_schools-draft.htm> Free Expression After September 11th - An Online Index National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) <http://www.ncac.org/issues/freeex911.html> [FS_ANNOUNCE] POLITICAL CHILL IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH <http://www.freedomsite.org/pipermail/fs_announce/2002/000862.html> Free Speech in the News <http://www.matrixmasters.com/takecharge/speech/speech.html> To state that Nancy Willard has posted on web pages and discussion groups content that is relevant to the issues of freedom of speech and censorship in schools would be kind of like observing that there is some water in the Atlantic Ocean (those living closer may wish to substitute Pacific for Atlantic in this sentence). I have decided not to link to any individual documents on this topic that she has authored or that discuss her work in this area. I have decided to do one better. This is a link to a search of AllTheWeb for pertinent documents that she has published on this and related topics. As with any search of the web there may be some other links in here that are off topic or worse and there may be other Nancy Willards out there. Nevertheless this link below should contribute much on topic material. Search Strategy: "nancy willard" and freedom <http://www.alltheweb.com/search?cat=web&cs=utf-8&q=%22nancy+willard%22+and+freedom&_sb_lang=en> A shortened link: <http://makeashorterlink.com/?L6DC32B64> And for those of you who are big Google fans: <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22nancy+willard%22+and+freedom&btnG=Google+Search> A shortened link: <http://makeashorterlink.com/?O1FC12B64> I hope that these resource links will contribute to the fuel for thinking processes about the issues raised by the Western Pennsylvania case that are of ongoing concern to all of us in the field of education regarding our rights to expression of professional and other views and ideas both on and off of the job. Sincerely, David Dillard Research Librarian david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ECP RingLeader http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html Temple University (215) 204 - 4584 jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<> EDUCATIONAL CYBERPLAYGROUND http://www.edu-cyberpg.com <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<> ADVERTISE REACH THE EDUCATION MARKET GET FREE EDUCATION VENDOR DIRECTORY LISTING http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Directory/default.asp Net Happenings,K12 Newsletters, Network Newsletters, New-list http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/index.html HOT LIST OF SCHOOLS ONLINE http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Schools/default.asp SERVICES http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/PS/Home_Products.html <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>