TexasCHLforum.com

If you aren't for gun control, you may be psychotic. Better test you, just to be safe.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/vol ... 6445956440

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

Another reason to encrypt your flash drives.

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.

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?

Jusme wrote:... Anything said to counselors is presumed to be confidential, ... The exception being if a crime has been committed

Absolutely not true. There should be no expectation of confidentiality with any school employee. Further the duty to report suspected abuse, neglect, or potential harm to the child extends far beyond whether a crime has been committed. The failure to report applies to all professionals in this state (and all other states to a greater or lesser degree) including but not limited to an attorney, a member of the clergy, a medical practitioner, a social worker, or a mental health professional.

The sad reality is that students in public schools have extremely attenuated rights as the school is placed in the role of the parent while the child is in class, and that leads to such a knee jerk reaction to over-report everything because the failure to report can have serious consequences attached including the loss of your livelihood. The school may have over reached (and I think they did), but the judge refused to act until a full hearing of all the evidence could be heard. Good for him, because too often the courts rubber stamp what school officials do. If they school over reacted they should be brought to task for that, but I wouldn't hold my breath for that happening anytime soon.

In Texas the teacher and Counselor could be given letters of censure up to being Fired.

Deltaboy wrote:In Texas the teacher and Counselor could be given letters of censure up to being Fired.

The fact that the OP happened in Northern NJ is a key factor. Our kids attended NJ public schools not far away from where this incident happened, though it was quite a while ago. The mindset in the school system was one of the main reasons that my wife insisted that I get our family out of there at the first opportunity. Southern NJ and even parts of the central part of that State have a completely different mindset. While there are pockets of gun enthusiasts in Northern NJ, there seems to be the prevailing social idea that guns are wrong for citizens and those who want them need to be watched closely.

ScottDLS wrote:Another reason to encrypt your flash drives.

What do you suggest? Bonus points if there's apps for Android and Windows to read the same encrypted drive.

I used to use TrueCrypt but it's an orphan now. More important, it requires admin rights to mount an encrypted drive. A student usually won't have that on school computers and I don't have it when I use a library computer, etc.

Deltaboy wrote:In Texas the teacher and Counselor could be given letters of censure up to being Fired.

It's a catch 22. If a teacher or counselor fails to report what is later determined to be a situation where a student was a danger to himself or others, losing their job is the least of their worries.
To be fair, we don't know the whole story and probably never will.

Deltaboy wrote:In Texas the teacher and Counselor could be given letters of censure up to being Fired.

OR the teacher and counselor end up on the news because some other parent heard that [to be read in hysterical parent voice] some gun loving maniac went to their precious baby's school intent on killing everyone and neither the teacher nor counselor did anything about it! Either way, the faculty is screwed.

Every contract I've ever seen, whether teacher, administrator, or any other member of the ISD system, includes a grounds-for-termination clause to the effect of "through action or neglect becomes less able to perform your job", which really means "If you've done something that angered a parent enough they pull their kid from your class, we can fire you. You've made yourself less able to teach that kid." Teachers get fired for searching, for not searching, for over-reacting, for under-reacting, for moderately reacting (therefore not satisfying the extreme parents in either direction), for passing a failing student, for failing a failing student...

Gentleman your both correct.