Comments on: What would you do?

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:35:50 +0000

Cathy –

I would have been suspicious of that first e-mail myself. As your picture said, people lie on the Internet. If this person had a personal contact with the family, why didn’t he contact them first when he wasn’t able to locate the child on the school web site instead of you? It definitely sounded fishy and you were right to be reluctant in providing the information.

I probably would have done as Doug suggested and sent the request on to the principal. That’s why they get paid the big bucks!

Mary

By: Cathy Nelson

Cathy Nelson — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:36:26 +0000

Heather and Frank,
I think my problem is pride–I let the “implied” insinuation that the page was being ill-maintained prod me into a response. Yes my first instinct I did act on–I sent it to the principal. But the more I stewed on it, the more I became angered. Knee-jerk reactions are usually regrettable, and admittedly I’ve had my fair share. The first step toward dealing with a problem is admitting you have one. So hopefully I’m on the road to recovery–pride is a biggie though. Frank, Yes I realize I must follow the policies that I signed to follow. I even called Betty O. to vent and get reassurance that I was indeed adhering to the policy. I could be wrong too, but I don’t believe one wit that anyone at the d.o. talked to him about the page. Also, when people disagree, it can NEVER be resolved in an email. Do you think I should have called my student’s parents? I shocked that an apparently college educated person who works with youth would assume a school would just give out information like that too.

Fran,
Thanks for making me feel like I maybe responded the way you would have. Nope–no disclaimers are called for. Next time–just let the principal handle it.

Thanks all.

By: Fran

Fran — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:46:55 +0000

Cathy,
I think you handled the situation appropriately and can understand why you feel you were under attack. You should not feel that you have to add a disclaimer to your site because of this individual.
Thank you for sharing your experience – it is not something I would have been prepared for.

Fran

By: Frank Moore

Frank Moore — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:12:32 +0000

Cathy,
I agree with Doug. This decision goes directly to the principal who should indicate to the requester that school board policy does not allow student names to be matched to pictures within a school’s website. We webmasters in HCS even signed an agreement that we would not match student names with pictures for security reasons. Don’t take this personally. Just follow the agreement you signed back in August.

Keep on keepin on!
Best,
Frank

By: Heather Loy

Heather Loy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:16:04 +0000

Our district has a policy on what can/cannot be published on the web – even if there is permission from parent, we cannot give full names & photos, such as with a team roster. Granted, this information is usually published in the newspaper, but we/I will not post that information on the school website.

In the situation you gave, I would have “passed the buck” by replying to the sender that I am forwarding his request to our school’s athletic director as I do not have that information available. I would have cc’d the athletic director and considered the matter closed. Maybe not the best approach, but I don’t provide information about students to anyone, it’s not my job, nor would I feel comfortable giving out information about my students.

By: Cathy Nelson

Cathy Nelson — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:58:03 +0000

As always excellent advice Doug! We do have a district policy regarding names, etc. I did forward to my building principal, but my patience as you can see did not last. Sigh. My princ said it sort of took care of itself, which it did–the info was found without my help. The info we publish about students is in alignment with district policy thank goodness.

By: Doug Johnson

Doug Johnson — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:38:14 +0000

Hi Cathy,
This is not a problem I would attempt to solve or make policy on. What information is displayed on the web about individual students should be board policy – not procedures set by individuals or even individual buildings.
I would have directed the email to my building principal without replying.
All the best,
Doug