Please read-re: the kids

Jocelyn,

I am simply concerned about you. Thinking out of the box sometimes comes with a price. I wouldn't want to see what you started as a sincere effort get twisted by a parent who doesn't like the outcome. If you haven't already seen it, teachers often become the scapegoats for parents who are less than ideal.

In no way was I implying that these kids should not be involved in justice for Max. I think it is a wonderful, useful lesson for them at a very appropriate age for them to be doing it. I commend them for their dedication. I do not think I am being harsh. While most of the posts here are positive, humorous, and supportive, there has been discussion of some serious subjects, the latest of which being spousal abuse, which apparently many of us are very passionate about. There have been a few expletives which would not be appropriate for children. In other posts, there have been a few mildly risque' references. Nothing dirty or bad, just a little grown up for kids. Now we are being told that there are children here and we need to watch it. I like this site because it is intelligent and occasionally contoversial. I would not like to see it change. That is my opinion and I am not trying to offend anyone. I bet I am not the only one here who thinks this, I am just the only one to say it.

I think that it would most certainly have been more appropriate.

Look, Im not trying to take a darn thing away from Max, and Cat, I am glad to see that he is getting recognition he deserved, your efforts are truly amazing!! Juicelyn, the idea was a good one, but you have to admit, in this day and age, you really can never be to carefull. As a parent, I would be more than a little miffed if I found out that this was going on...

I realize that you are very restrictive, and you watch them like a hawk, but you can't be everywhere, all the time. In fact had it not been for another member here, one of those kids email addresses would have been posted.

I really think it would have been beter to start a page elsewhere..

Ken

I have to agree with Krazy Kat. Now that the children know the site, it's natural for them to be curious. As 4th graders, they will be naturaly drawn to the threads started by members who are actively responding to them. Let's be honest: some of those threads have content that isn't designed for children. It's adult fun, key on the word "adult". This is the biggest opening for potential problems, imo.

I am honestly not trying to rain on anyone's parade, so to speak, but as an educator, I am concerned about potential outcomes.

I guess youre right-you can't be too careful. For that reason, we shouldnt take our kids out for recess- might get kidnapped. You see, this started as a wonderful thing and has been completely tarnished. It has really lost its magic. That is what is sad. I appreciate that so many of you are worried about me, I understand that. However, in my opinion, I have protected myself. I know a number of students who have discussed this with my parents. However, I teach in a public school and I feel as though I am covering myself.

Lastly- that email address was the parents address! Thanks again. I truly feel my spirit has been dampened...appreciate it.

I really don't think it's an issue against the kids getting involved. I think it's more of an internet issue where we worry about the dangers for the kids. Being a parent, I worry about these things with my own child. It is very hard to monitor every little thing they do and we don't know who's watching and reading things out there. You said yourself that the last names are kept out, but in the letters on the site, there are a few kids that have first and last names.

I must say that this all began with the so polite..ROMPER ROOM comment.

Sorry but whilst posting the last I miss the last couple of posts..

Do I think that teachers sometimes have to think outside the box, yeah I do..

But if you seriously think for one minute that this is just a case of someone being upset cuz of the way you do things then you really should reevaluate your methods.

See, I would bet that if you went to everyone of the parents and asked them ahead of time, you probably wouldn't have received alot of O.K's.
And to be honest, should anything happen to anyone of those kids the liability on your end alone is staggering, not to mention the angry parents.

Just to check, I searched the Yahoo registry of elemtary schools and checked the first 15 websites, and wouldn't you know it, there isn't picture one of students... Hmmmm coincidence, I don't think so.

If it were up to me, I would have deleted the pixs altogether.

Ken

The romper room post was also valid...

I should not have to be concerned that I might post something that would be inapropriate for a child to read. Heck, I won't even let my daughter read whats on here sometimes...


Ken

Originally posted by juicelyn0527
I guess youre right-you can't be too careful. For that reason, we shouldnt take our kids out for recess- might get kidnapped. You see, this started as a wonderful thing and has been completely tarnished. It has really lost its magic. That is what is sad. I appreciate that so many of you are worried about me, I understand that. However, in my opinion, I have protected myself. I know a number of students who have discussed this with my parents. However, I teach in a public school and I feel as though I am covering myself.

Lastly- that email address was the parents address! Thanks again. I truly feel my spirit has been dampened...appreciate it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, you know you're right, we can't protect kids from everything, so why bother trying.. And losing the magic of this thread is not what's sad, to me, it's the fact htat there are some very valid points made here, all of which you seem to dismiss as trivial, and while it may be that some of the parents know what's going on, they ALL should have known, before the fact, and whats more, you should have been the one to inform them, not their children.

Had my child been in your class, I would have removed her from m your class..


Ken

Well what I really think is this.......

First off I just dont see where the kids posting in that monitored thread, or how Jocelyn handles the details and legal stuff, is anyones business except for Jocelyn, the kids parents, and Anne's!!!!

Well I just know from experience that you cant protect kids forever. You have to draw a line. If you do try to overprotect then they will be totally unprepared when they hit the real world. In my opinion it is much better to expose them gradually to some of it as their age permits and teach them to make the right kind of choices.

And folks lets all remember that these kids are learning valuable lessons that will serve them well in later life. I think the good outweights the any possible risks.

IMO it has nothing to do with them speaking about the case or the subject. It has to do with pictures on the internet along with some first and last names. It has to do with peoples oppionions on "exposing" children on the net. Some have a legal outlook and some have a personal outlook.
If it is on this site, it is persay our buisness because we have a right to say how we feel about it. Choices are one thing, but most children do not know what lurks out there.

While I agree somewhat with your post, I think that it was wholly inapropriate for it to be done here. Aside from the legal issues involved from both sides, having so much posted about a child on the internet is dangerous..

Remember, anyone who wanted could now find out about a child, at least one of thier names, easy to put a face with a name, and we also can find out what school they go to.

I hate to say this but that is entirely to much information for a public educator to be putting on the net, no matter what reason it's for.
In today's times, when, in addition to the things that have happened to kids that's already been posted, there has been at least one child 15, lured from the states to another country, a fifteen year old, so excuse me if im being a bit over protective, but it's my decision when and if I let go of the reins on my child, not her teachers..

As far as posting on a monitored thread... monitored by people who were never asked to monitor children, and now are put in that position. Obviously they are not being monitored well at the site of use, or there wouldn't be last names on the posts, but I guess that should have been caught by the mods here, like they don't have enough to do...

Ken

Well, problem #1 is that the parental decision was taken out of the loop. Secondly, as has been pointed out to me in the past, everyone here is free to speak his own opinion. In this case, my opinion is backed up by expertise I have in this area. Thirdly, when the policy of the site is to restrict membership and posting to members over the age of 12 unless direct parental consent has been obtained, I think it becomes an issue for all of us. You have every right to expose your children to the truths of the world at your own pace, but don't speak to me on how I decide to raise my children. The point of the exercise was to refresh and enlighten the adults as they saw the issue from the kids' point of view. That could have been accomplished in a different fashion. If you think the good outweighs the bad, you have never been subjected to a parental lawsuit brought about by what began as the sincerest of educational intentions.

.

Well what I really think is this.......

Click to expand...

Excuse me folks.... but in case you missed it at the top of my post I was just voicing my opinion. Not telling you what your opinion should be.

Okay and as far as I can see that's all we are doing as well...

Ken

I've been sitting here looking at this thread for awhile now;not sure if I have any right to say a thing. Lord know's there's someone in this group who already considers me the second coming of Lucifer.

At any rate; I gather that everything was long settled and OK'd by Anne,so that should be the end of it.

The points that Deb25 and the others have raised give pause for thought. It's terribly sad that things have gone so far awry that every decision has to be made with perverts in mind. The question is at what point does protection become paranoia? Do we wind up locking them away? I don't envy the parents of today.

However,I don't see anything much here that would harm the kids. As was said,many are from homes where they know more about spouse abuse than we do. As for sexual innuendo...I see more in the music stores and tv programs than I do here.

Maybe we should think about that for awhile before we make our friend feel as if she didsomething shameful?

I really don't think anything was meant to make anyone feel shameful. The discussion may be somewhat heated, but the fact remains that alot of people with children have a very valid although sad point.
No, I don't want to lock my daughter up. As a parent, yes I would be upset if her school, picture or last name were put out there.When an adult does this, they have the means to protect themselves much more than a child. While yes they need to know what's out there, its our job to try and protect them the best we can until they have the resourses to protect themselves. I know in my every day life, I do little things to help ensure my safety silly or not. No it's not 100% that somethings not going to happen, but I feel better knowing I am trying the best I can.

Well, Kittyfoot, with all due respect to Anne, she is running this site from a country outside of the U.S. I am not trying to blast Jocelyn, but I have had concerns about the children posting since I saw it.

We can comment from here till eternity about the sad state of affairs in this country, but truth is, those conditions exist. I worked with a good friend who had a parent begin a lawsuit because a child walked into a pole in the hallway during a supervised educational activity.

Ken speaks the truth. There are dangers for kids all over the internet. When I was first online, my kids had their own little screen names on AOL. I left the room to go to the bathroom, and my daughter gave out password information to someone who asked her in a kids' chat room.

The point is that the adults post things here in a forum they assume is only going to be read by adults. We have covered this ground before, if you remember your history. If a child accesses this site due to parental oversight, he has nobody to blame but himself. But when the access was given by a teacher, you open up a whole new ballgame. Many parents who are downright negligent in their duties will be the first to point a finger at an educator who slips up in the least.

I'm not going to belabor the point any further. It would be a shame to see something unexpected come of this for Jocelyn when she only had the best of intentions.

I do believe that Jocelyn's an intelligent woman and has all bases covered. I'm taking Max out of the issue here, because as you know, I'm extremely involved with his case, but to start making judgements against a member about her discretion as a professional, in my opinion is out of line.

Ken, I did the same search and can get all the domain url's for the elementary schools not to mention homepages. Why should I post them here if you're going to come down on the pics already here...NO thanks. Also, go to AOL, MSN, GOOGLE, LYCO's and you'd really be surprised. I've witnessed and have IMG'd images from other websites of kids onto this site hearing no complaints from anyone.

So, the question is why NOW? Is it that we've got something to hide here? I don't think so since the kids are monitored by her. Why now when it comes to Jocelyn and allowing her class involved in issues such as this, on this Site? I don't get it...people, the woman is not exploiting the children...In my opinion, I bet those kids go home and if they're from the neighborhoods she says there in, how many of them are going to have internet access? Can their parent(s) afford it? If so, don't you think there's a heck of a lot more places they'd like to visit than a CatSite? These are all specualtions WE ARE ALL making here, I don't understand why it's been such a big deal with a few of you. Also, to say something so hurtful Ken is really so unlike you.

Another question comes to mind is what are the chances of someone looking into a CATSITE for children when they can just as easily perform the search that I did. There's a ton of pics on the Internet of children and their families, children in school rooms, children with their own sites...etc...I don't see why we just can't sit back and think before being so critical of another's position.

Our moderators do not have anymore of a bigger job than they had prior to the children posting. I'm sure you read Jocelyn's response as to how and when the children are permitted to post. She knows the parameters and has given them their own as well.

I'm surprised that some of you feel so judgemental about such a great person with a passion for what she believes in. She has helped each child express the same spirit each and everyone of us possess. To help children become PASSIONATE about a good cause instead of getting involved in the poisons within their environment, in my opinion, this person is virtuous, ethical and should be commended for her obvious love for children.

Cat