Five Grade 8 students in Thornhill, Ontario have been bumped from end of year trip after ridiculing their teachers on Facebook.
5 students from Willowbrook Public School,Thornhill, Ontario school in Grade 8 are banned from going on a school trip to Montreal for posting disparaging remarks about some teachers on Facebook.
One student, Bram Koch,on December 11, 2006 jokingly posted a message to friends on Facebook.com that he thought he seen a teacher masturbating.
The message named the teacher and said
"I could've sworn I saw ... sitting in the back of the room rubbing herself,"
During the chat other students posted that a phys-ed teacher "gives
masturbating tips."
The school sent home a letter to about 20 parents about the misuse of the internet. Parents were asked to meet with the principle about their child's conduct. At least 5 children were told they were banned from the school trip that is taking place at the end of the school year.
Bram,14, said
"I didn't think it would be so public. I was just writing it to my friends. I didn't expect that the teachers would get involved and that they would be reading this.""We were just joking around. Nothing we said was meant to cause others harm,"
At the beginning of the year, a letter is sent home to both students and parents. They are asked to read it and sign it. The letter states
"Misconduct carried out over the Internet may be subject to school discipline, whether carried out at home, at a school or elsewhere."
Bram has posted an apology to the science teacher and the homeroom teacher on the internet and also wrote a letter to both teachers apologizing.
His father said
students that age aren't always aware that their conversations on the Internet are public. "These kids are not aware of what they're doing. They don't grasp the concept,"
He also said the school needs to do more to educate the students on etiquette for the Internet.
He feels the school has overstepped the boundaries in disciplining his son for something that occurred in his home.
He was not on school property, he was not using school equipment, it was not during school time,""The moment you've entered my house, my living room, you're taking over my role,"
Bram is very upset about being taken off the school trip. He would have rather been suspended. He was looking forward to the trip for the entire year.
Now I wonder how they would have felt if the teachers were suspended or charged for the "jokes" they posted about them? Wonder how the dad would have felt if these "jokes" were said about him? I do agree more needs to be done in teaching children about the internet, but I also feel it is up to the parents as well to monitor what their children do on the internet.
