Historically, schools have developed policies and procedures based on the doctrine of in loco parentis . While children are in their care, they act in stead of the parents to insure their children's safety. Constitutional freedoms may be justifiably abridged in their application in schools. Random drug testing, locker searches, and the limits of student journalism have all been tested in the courts. We can inform parents of the potential dangers, and indemnify ourselves by asking them to sign a permission form.
Schools typically have codes of conduct which govern student behavior at school and on field trips.
Most schools treat Internet access as a revocable privilege, and have developed acceptable use policies with which students must agree to comply. Discussing the terms of the acceptable use policies with students allows us to introduce positive concepts like ethics, responsibility and copyright. Philosophically, we tend to disagree with Prodigy's policy of screening all messages. Most of us prefer to stress the students' opportunity to develop maturity by taking responsibility for the content of their postings. Equal access to as many network services as the user's technology allows.