Secondly, the school board and school district administrators need to be aware of the school's acceptable-use policy for Internet usage, update it and make sure it is enforced. However, even school districts with clear-cut policies aren't exempt from lawsuits, particularly if those policies don't include filtering. Exeter, for example, had an acceptable-use policy in place, and according to Carolyn Jacobs, chair of the Cooperative Parent Teacher Student Association, it was enforced on a regular basis. Jacobs says that she has never had a complaint about student Web access, and it hasn't come up at meetings or in calls from concerned parents. One thing that ought to come up in any community meeting on the subject is the possibility that, if schools are forced to allow outsiders to look at student Web logs, someone other than a parent or guardian might start asking for private information about students.
Filters are a technology that is very fallible.
To say, 'We have a filter, and now we're protected' is not realistic. While everyone is concerned about the criminal element, Darden acknowledges that advertisers or corporations who want to aggregate information about students could use this information for their own purposes. Private information needs to remain private. Darden cites the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act as a blueprint for access. The act defines education records very broadly and includes everything from health records to attendance, photographs, films and correspondence.