Caleigh Quinn

Ms. Wilson
HELA 10
20 February 2015

Is Your Privacy Really Private While in School?

Do children drop their first amendments rights at the school doors? Does the school day
really end when the last bell rings? These days, some kids do not know what their private
information is and what is accessible by their school. Schools around the nation are drawling the
eyes of parents and students in regards to student privacy. Many schools claim that what their
students do outside of school is not the schools business. But is that really true? Schools invade
student privacy daily and get away with it without being remotely questioned by anyone.
At Blue Valley West High School in Kansas, some things that go one could be considered
as invading students privacy as well as limiting their First Amendment rights. Administrators
receive tips every week about any legal trouble that their students have been involved in
regarding drugs and alcohol, as well as parties that took place. A student was brought down to
the office regarding a hateful tweet she posted about the cheerleaders at the school.
We only look into posts made by students if it effects the school day in any way, or endangers
another student. Said BVW Administrator, Bryan Brutto.
The student was asked to take down her post, suspended from the spirit assembly that day and
was no longer allowed to go to the Sweetheart dance that weekend. (Brutto) These types of
situations cause questions about a childs rights as well as their privacy in school. Are schools
crossing the line or simply trying to prevent cyber bullying?

At another Blue Valley school, Blue Valley Northwest, three students were involved in
the vandalism of a home. The school news Twitter account posted the link to the news site
where the situation was described on February 18, 2015. Two of the students were named and the
other one was not due to the fact that he was a minor. Students then took to Twitter and told the
account to take down the tweet. This situation caused tensions to rise about whether those
running the account were wrong for further embarrassing those students, or if they were just
exercising their first amendment rights to post news.
More hostile situations have arisen in schools around the country. Administrators at a
school in Minnesota interrogated a 12 year-old student until she gave up her passwords to her
private social media accounts as well as her e-mail. The girl had posted a status on Facebook
saying that one of the teachers was mean. Once the administrators got her passwords, they went
through her personal messages on her Facebook and her e-mail. They then punished her for some
things said in those messages. (CNN Wire Staff) This cynical situation was a clear display of
how schools abused their authority and power to acquire information that they wanted from
someone with no authority. It also clearly shows them stripping the student of her first
amendment rights.
At an unnamed Christian school, a young boy was openly gay. He was called down to the
principals office where he was told to, Stay in the closet, or find a new school. Under the
terms of Staying in the closet the boy would have had to delete all of the social media accounts
he had and would be unable to speak of being gay ever again. The boy then took to his YouTube
channel and posted an emotional and indignant video of himself, describing the situation. (Scott
Bixby) This was clearly a violation of the first amendment right entitled to the boy. The principle

of this school was completely flippant in this case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=TFrt1KrTiOg&feature=player_embedded
In another similar case, the principal of a school in Rockland was suspended for a week
after a video of her verbally abusing students was leaked. The school is for kids with behavior
issues. At one point in the video she took a student to the stage while his class was doing a
graduation practice. She yelled to the class, This is a retard. How embarrassing.
In other parts of the video, she is cursing at her students. After all of this, she was suspended for
just one week. A teacher from the school described her as a very whimsical person.
(7online) This story displays an authority figure taking advantage of her position to verbally
abuse her students.
A school in Texas is requiring their students to wear tracking IDs to improve attendance.
The chips are designed to locate students when they are skipping class. These chips though, do
have the ability to track students outside of school. Some students have refused to wear the chips
because they feel as though their privacy is being extremely invaded. (Huffington Post)
Questions concerning these types of technological advances have come up.
Positives on restricting what students can say on social media are pretty beneficial.
Essentially, people can say whatever they want to. The consequences that follow these actions is
what prevent most people from posting certain things.
Its up to students what they post on their social media, but, just because you can, should you?
said Brutto

Having these consequences in place can prevent cyber bullying which in more serious situations,
can save another childs life. Positives and negatives come with every situation. Theres never a
clear cut way to handle a situation. The most difficult thing is that there is never a set way on
how to handle things, said Brutto.
Parents and students have questioned schools based on their actions regarding their
students privacy and in some cases, parents have won. Unfortunately, more often than not,
authority figures in schools have gotten away with invading students privacy and
inappropriately questioning them. Something needs to be done in order to protect these students
rights as well as their privacy. Kids should not have to suffer at the expense of a meddling school
official.

Works Cited
"Abuse of Power." Abuse of Power. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-48-fall-2014/abuse-of-power>.
"Abuse of Power: Utah School Official Placed on Paid Leave After Students Lunches Were
Seized and Thrown Away." The Blaze. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/31/utah-school-official-placed-on-paid-leaveafter-students-lunches-were-seized-and-thrown-away/>.
Brutto, Brayan. "Student Privacy." Personal interview. 19 Feb. 2015.
"How Public Schools Are Invading Your Childs Privacy With Data Mining." Off The Grid
News. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. <http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/11/12/how-publicschools-are-invading-your-childs-privacy-with-data-mining/>.
"Minnesota Girl Alleges School Privacy Invasion - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network.
Web. 25 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/10/us/minnesota-student-privacy/>.
"This Gay Student's Devastating Viral Video Forced Him to Leave His Christian School." Mic. 7
Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. <http://mic.com/articles/110062/this-gay-student-sdevastating-viral-video-forced-him-to-leave-his-christian-school>.
"Investigators Exclusive: Rockland County Principal Recorded Cursing At, Threatening

Special Needs Students." ABC7 New York. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.

<http://7online.com/education/exclusive-rockland-principal-recorded-cursing-atthreatening-students/510037/>.
"Six shockingly Evil Abuses of Power by School Officials." Cracked.com. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.cracked.com/article_21127_6-shockingly-evil-abuses-power-by-schoolofficials.html>.