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goose wrote:

Jusme wrote: Why have guidance counselors, if any conversation a student has with them could result in the content being spread throughout the school district?

Any kid that is borderline in trouble and possibly being visited by said counselor is going to lock up like a steel trap. Share a little too much about the family life -> Board of Education or Police involved. Share a little too much about what you're dealing with inside your head -> Call the po po.

Guidance counselors are supposed to assist students with issues they have, whether it is school related, interpersonal relationships, or issues at home. They are not supposed to be the earpiece for the police. Anything said to counselors is presumed to be confidential, and not shared with other faculty members, school board members, or the police. (The exception being if a crime has been committed) If a student can't trust what they say to a counselor, to be held in confidence, who else can they turn to?

There is so much wrong with this story, that I don't think I can get through the entire list.

First, a teacher finds a flash drive in her classroom. It is lost property and should go to lost and found. Instead, another school employee, decides to access it and finds cartoons downloaded from the internet,(content irrelevant) and forwards the info to a guidance counselor. The guidance counselor then contacts a school board member, and relates details of a confidential meeting with the student, who had criticized a faculty member's job performance,(which in light of the performance of the faculty members involved, it is understandable) along with some evidently pertinent information regarding what he wore to school, and how he spent his free time playing "violent" video games. The school board member then contacts the police. I'm not sure what criminal activity has taken place at this point, but the police then contact the parents, and tell them, to have the student evaluated, by a psychiatrist. (I'm glad the police have never contacted me and told me that about my child, because they would not like how the conversation went ) The mother understandably told them to put that idea where the sun don't shine, and withdrew her son from school.

I am so glad that I don't live anywhere near this place, and I hope that the school system ends up paying a huge settlement to these people.

Who gave the faculty member the authority to open the flash drive?
Why have guidance counselors, if any conversation a student has with them could result in the content being spread throughout the school district? Not to mention the police being called. (kinda defeats the purpose of trying to help students)
What authority do the police have to mandate a psychiatric evaluation, with no due process?

The student had made no threats, had committed no crime, and his only "mistake" was accidentally forgetting his flash drive, and not conforming to an arbitrary mode of dress.


Edit to add: after re-reading the article, the police did not mandate the psychiatric evaluation, it was the school board. Again with no due process, and only after violating the student's First, and Fourth, amendment rights