Parent, School System Debate Online Use Of Student Names

ABINGDON, Va. – Just two months after the Washington County School Board’s most recent approval of a policy preventing pupils’ full names from appearing with their photographs online, the issue is on the agenda again Oct. 6.

The reason? One county resident, whose sons graduated several years ago from county schools and whose grandchildren are now reaching school age, says parents – not the School Board – should decide whether their children’s names appear.

The school system maintains that online photos with names could subject children to Internet predators.

“I worry more about the public school system taking away the rights of the parents,” said Vernon Smith, adding he has been fighting for years to get the policy changed. “If they take away this right, what’s next?”

Smith said he first became concerned about the issue when one of his sons, who excelled in the band at John Battle High School, could not have his name posted on the school Web site because of the policy.

“My brother’s son, my nephew in Castlewood, Va., he’s a good pitcher, and they noticed through the Web sites that he was a good pitcher, and he got approached by some scouts,” Smith said.

“What if my grandson throws a 50-yard touchdown pass and they won’t put his name and picture on the Web site?”

Smith says school Web sites also serve as an opportunity for the community, as well as relatives who live at a distance, to give kids well-deserved recognition for their accomplishments.

He said when he looked online, other school systems in Southwest Virginia had photographs with the students identified.

However, a quick look through Russell, Wise, Scott, Smyth, Dickenson, Tazewell and Buchanan county school Web sites on Thursday did not reveal any easy-to-find photos with students’ names.

The Washington County’s school system’s Web site is the only one that provides a news feed that highlights individual students; first names and last initials are used.

Russell County School Superintendent Lorraine Turner said her school system recently reaffirmed a policy similar to the one in Washington County. Students are not identified in pictures on school Web sites, and she said it’s necessary for their safety.

As opportunities for students have expanded with technology, so have the dangers – including the growing threat of Internet predators, she said.

“I have seen where we’ve come from to what we are now, and I know it’s much more difficult now … to protect the students,” said Turner, who has worked in the school system for 30 years.

“When I first started teaching, the biggest thing we worried about was what happened on the playground.”

She said school Web sites, which are owned by the school systems, will continue to be governed by school regulations.

“If the parent decides that he wants his son or his daughter’s picture on the Internet, then he will have to post it [elsewhere],” Turner said. “That’s the only solution I see.”

Back in Washington County, School Board member Herschel Stevens said that while he doesn’t doubt the dangers, he agrees with Smith.

“I think that the parents ought to have the right to say if you put the child’s last name in there or if you don’t put the name,” Stevens said. “I think it’s up to the parents to decide what’s right for their child. ... If the parent does not want it, they should have the right to say no. If the parent does want it, they should have the right to say yes.”

Even so, Stevens voted with the other six members of the board Aug. 4 to approve the policy on second reading as part of the board’s consent agenda.

Washington County School Superintendent Alan Lee says allowing names to be posted with identifying photographs is just too risky.

“There are people who have a great deal of experience and knowledge about the workings of sexual predators who have given us advice that I value a great deal, and so we’re going to follow that advice,” Lee said.

“I think they [online predators] target any Web site that has a link between a child’s picture and their name and the potential of making contact with that child.”

He said parent, student and teacher advisory groups also tell him it would be a mistake to place a child’s full name and picture together online.

“An interesting piece of this is that we have not had a parent tell us they would favor us listing the last names of their children on a Web site,” Lee said.

“What I’ve got is someone who doesn’t have children in the school system wanting me to do that, and I have a responsibility to parents across the county to do what’s smart in taking care of their children even though they may not understand and in some cases may not agree,” he added.

Washington County School Board Chairman Tom Musick said he will wait until the Oct. 6 meeting to talk about his opinion and won’t speculate on which way the vote will go.

He did, however, say Smith will get a decision on the issue.

“I think as of right now, if they [parents] come forward and want their child’s last name [on the Web site], I don’t think they’d deny that right,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s a big issue. It’s just one of those issues where somebody’s got a concern, and I hope to put it to rest one way or another and move on.”

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