Leighanne had some questions concerning giving teacher email address
to students.
To everyone that has given out your email... have you ever gotten any
nasty emails from the kids?
A girl is mad at me for discovering something personal she emailed someone
(re: her granting a boy sexual favors when he returns from suspension--we
are sure he is not returning however)--well actually MANY of the kids reported
getting the note (the girl checked her mail with me right behind her and
I saw it). Of course, word spread quickly.
I saw it and Friday night I got 5 very nasty emails, Sunday I got one more.
I have heard that this girl has given out her password, and the emails I
received, for the most part all related to what I saw in the other student's
mail. I do not think this girl sent the mail herself... what would you all
do? We're off on break this week, so thankfully I don't have to deal with
it for a while. I did block her address (I made a yahoo account for the
kids). The thing is, the emails offered more information about the situation
and I really do not think this girl was responsible.
I made a new address... thought I would tell them I was not getting any
mail and yahoo said to make a new one just to play off the fact I didn't
get them... but does anyone else have any ideas?
- Leighann
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trish asked Leighann a question.
Does your school have a district email account? We do at our school
and this I can also check from home via the Internet URL. This is the only
email I give out. We are pretty much behind the times in our district but
we do all have our own email addresses. I would never give out my personal
email to a student. I would rather make one up through yahoo or another
engine like you did.
The situation will have to be reported when you return from break, at least
that is what I think and the emails should have been kept as backup.
- Trish
-------------------------------------------------------------
Holly wondered if making oneself available via email would interfere
with personal time needed by educators.
What about your personal time? I need to get away from school related
issues when I am at home. I try to do as much schoolwork at school as possible
then I budget my time so that I do the rest when my husband is at work.
We are trying to have a baby and once that happens, I know that I will do
less work at home.
- Holly
-------------------------------------------------------------
Trish responded to Holly's query.
You have to decide what is best for you. Personally, knowing me, I would
never give out my home phone number because I would become too wrapped up
with the kids that I would not have a life of my own. Sometimes now feel
I don't have a life. I am involved in so many school activities. (Over-involvement)
does not make you a good teacher or better teacher...you have to decide
what is best for you, live with that decision, and be happy.
As for email, we all have our school is networked and we all have school
email that we can check at home. That is the email address I give out. I
begin school at 7:10 (students arrive) and leave school at 3:30...that is
a full day! Like you, Holly, when I am home it is my time.
- Trish
-------------------------------------------------------------
Cathy pointed out the benefits of being available to her parents and
students.
I also give all of my students and their parents my e-mail and home
phone number. In the 17 years I have taught, I have never had anyone abuse
that privilege. This year I have a student who is alone much of the time
and he calls me for homework help at least twice a week, but then he goes
on to start conversations about books he's been reading or movies he's seen.
He just needs to talk. Great kid.
Being available to students and their parents has had the added benefit
of clearing up misunderstandings with parents before they become problems.
- Cathy
-------------------------------------------------------------
Deb shared her perspective.
I give my phone number as well and have only gotten one prank call in
all my years of teaching. One little girl did call to wish me a Merry Christmas
once; I was touched that she thought of me.
I agree with Laurie that sometimes the kids just need a space to hang out
and an adult to connect with informally.
- Debbie
-----------------------------------------------------------
Bill gave some advice to Leighann.
I had to deal with similar situations when I was co-administrator of
Stoneleigh-Burnham's email system, though I have never personally received
any unwanted email from students. My twin goals would be to finger the perp
(!) and administer a suitable punishment, and to teach the girl lessons
about trust and the dangers of giving out her password.
Does your school have an Acceptable Use Policy? If so, this may help govern
your response depending on how it is written.
Just as background - she may already know you have blocked her address p;
if she sent you an email once the blocking was in place, her email would
have bounced and/or she would have received a rejection notice. So I would
definitely not recommend the "I wasn't getting any mail so I changed
my account" cover story.
I would begin by letting the girl know that you received some nasty email
from her account (I would try to avoid mentioning that the emails included
additional details about her). I would ask her if she had given out her
password to anyone, and to whom. I would ask her directly if she had sent
any or all of the emails. Hopefully, taking this sequence will give you
a good idea of who really did it.
You could then impress upon this girl that this sort of situation is exactly
why she should never share her password, and give her the opportunity to
change it immediately. You can talk some about the importance of trust in
a community, and how emails like these break that trust. If by some chance
she takes personal responsibility (either because she did it or in order
to protect her friends), then you can build on the trust theme and let her
know how you feel, what she can do to earn back that trust, and then handle
the formal discipline in whatever manner fits your school's culture and
policies.
At Stoneleigh-Burnham, we would have suspended computer network privileges
for one week (first major offense), one month (second major offense) or
the remainder of the year (third major offense).
Of course, if she denies she did it and won't give you names of students
who have her password, you won't be able to call in the kids who really
did it. But you will still have taught her (hopefully!) lessons in trust
and sharing passwords. At Stoneleigh-Burnham, I would have had the latitude
to suspend her network privileges under these conditions if I felt it appropriate,
though only rarely would I have done so.
Pine Cobble (my current school) does not allow kids to check personal email
accounts at school, and I would happily use that rule to justify my accidentally
seeing the email in the first place. Why would I assume the email was personal
when I know students can't check personal email during school?! Again, I
don't know what your school's policies are.
I hope this is helpful. Sorry it is so long!
- Bill
----------------------------------------------------
Leighann responded to Bill's suggestions.
I really like your approach to this tough situation. Do I call the mother
about the note I saw she had written? This mother gets upset when she is
not called at the moment of an infraction. A little background:
The mom came up and was so mad she told the counselor she didn't want her
daughter anymore. The girl now lives with dad, but mom comes to meetings
and insists she is in charge!! I wonder if there has been some abuse. One
day the girl was afraid to go home... that was when the counselor called
the mom in and the mom made that above statement. See, this is more complicated
than you thought?
Also when we do the conference, should I meet with her alone, ask a team
member to come or tell an administrator?
- Leighann
-----------------------------------------
Marsha shared her opinion regarding giving out home phone numbers and
email addresses to students and parents.
Wow, Leighann, this is a tough situation. I've been giving out my home
phone number and email for years. And I'll have to admit that occasionally
I get a few messages that I would have preferred not to get. But those are
far and away overshadowed by the positive access that my students and I
have been able to use.
They are quick to email me with their struggles and ask for help. Tell me
that something is just too hard to do...and now as they have moved onto
other grades, they even write me notes just to keep in touch.
The network folks here are pretty well able to trace email (using some IP
address trail of crumbs???). We have dealt with these on a case-by-case
basis. As we have experienced someone who is out of bounds with their communication,
that person has been called in and we discuss the Acceptable Use Policy
for our district. That's all it usually takes. If not, we conference with
the student and their parents.
In our district of 18,000 students, I have only heard of one student who
just couldn't get it together and made everyone's life miserable as he/she
made their way up through the grade levels. That's pretty good, I think,
and in my experience, well worth the investment. Maybe ask your network
administrators for help. They're really wizards in tracking things down
and the evidence is pretty undeniable.
- Marsha
---------------------------------------------
Marey Ellen had no concerns about sharing e-mail addresses.
My email is listed on our school's website for anyone to see. I have
never had problems with any abuse from such. The kids often email me something
they think is clever (generally chain thingies) or that they have missed
something- no problem here.
- Marey Ellen
---------------------------------------------
Leighann expressed her gratitude for the many responses from Middle Web
readers.
Thanks for your response. I, unfortunately, was so upset that I deleted
the messages. Before I did that I did send a message to this girl saying
not to send me anything else. So I have that in the sent mailbox. At first
I wanted to let her have it, but she probably is not the one sending the
messages. There are so many things going on this year that have me so close
to resigning at the end of the year. This is icing on the cake. One kid
can really ruin things... all the other kids have no problem sending notes
about HW, saying hi, etc.
- Leighann
---------------------------------------------
UPDATE: A few days later, Leighann wrote:
From: "LEIGHANN Fuller"
To: middleweblist@NS.SREB.ORG
Subject: [MWlist] E-mail from students.... a problem.... UPDATE
Well... I confronted the girl as Bill suggested. She was shocked and very
apologetic. She informed me that several people had her password and she
was sorry she gave it out. She cried as I told her how upset it made me
and how hurt I was thinking she had done it. A kid came up to me and said
they also got mail from her like this and said they also blocked her address...
So I had the girl change her password in front of me so I know it was done
and there can be no future excuses.
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