Article from March 2000 Issue of T.H.E. Journal Establishing the safety and welfare of students is a prime responsibility for all educational leaders. Establishing the safety and welfare of students is a prime responsibility for all educational leaders. If a building is not secure, if the classrooms are not free of verbal, physical, or emotional harassment, if fire hazards and safety code violations exist, then there is a serious problem in a school. Parents certainly would have difficulties entrusting their children to such an environment. However, child safety is not the only charge given to educators.
Safety is a prime concern, but certainly far from the educator s only concern.
In fact, all of our curricular goals and objectives presuppose the proper custodial care of children as merely a springboard towards educational excellence. The same must hold true for the current argument of how to protect children from the evils of the Internet. Great debates have arisen all over the country, especially in public schools and libraries where tax dollars are being spent. Any and all attempts to restrict student access to inappropriate Internet sites are frequently met with the cry of censorship. Perhaps the debate over student access to the Internet should be discussed in the language and discipline of our trade as a curricular and instructional challenge.