Verified Document

School Scenario Formal Response Letter Essay

trenton.k12.nj.us). The Board of Education "…shall ensure the acquisition and installation of blocking/filtering software" (www.trenton.k12.nj.us). (d) Determine if a formal investigation is warranted or not. At this point, there does not seem to be justification for a formal investigation. This is a problem that should be reviewed and solved in house. Launching a formal investigation gets the media into the picture and stirs rumors that can be damaging to the school's reputation.

(e) What steps (by a timeline) should be taken in order to investigate the allegations? First, the principal needs to learn if filtering software was in that computer. Second, assuming the principal has cleared his efforts with legal counsel, the department chair, Ms. Paulson, the principal, his assistants and a representative from the superintendent's office should meet within 2 days of the allegations. Third, the day after the above-mentioned meeting, several students from that class should be interviewed informally by the counselor (less threatening than the principal) to learn if others saw the pornography that day.

(f) The investigative plan: one) how will the students and staff be chosen? Two counselors (in coordination with Ms. Paulson) will be asked to suggest trustworthy students from that class to be interviewed about what they saw that day. A faculty member with significant technology experience will be called in to determine exactly how inappropriate images were projected on the screen; he or she will go into the computer's hard drive to locate the source of the incident. Two) Conduct these interviews. Ms. Paulson is interviewed by the district's IT person to determine how much she actually knows about the equipment she is responsible for. "Her knowledge of digital technologies is very limited," according to the IT person. "She needs training before she starts another semester; in the meantime a tech-savvy aide should be assigned to her classroom." She is also interviewed by a district supervisor who determines she...

Two counselors interviewed Ms. Paulson's students and all four say they saw a "nude woman doing something naughty" on the screen, "but only for a few seconds."
(g) How will the principal maintain confidentiality in this matter? This will not be easy because once students know something untoward has happened in a classroom on campus, the "grapevine" in middle schools gets the information out, fast. However, the allegations can and should remain confidential, and the decision to not sanction Ms. Paulson (but instead provide her with the training she desperately needs) can be kept confidential.

(h) How will this be communicated to the media and the community, if necessary? There need be no communication of this matter to the media. There was no inappropriate teacher behavior (just negligence in not having good classroom control) and this is not what the media would call a "scandal" at all. What it turned out to be -- and this can be reported to the Board of Education -- is that he is a new principal who has not fully grasped the various duties and responsibilities of his school, including bringing teachers in for conferences when their class is not in control.

Conclusion

The problems that potentially can occur when children are using technology should be known and expressed to all teachers with Internet access. State and federal laws -- and school board guidelines -- all make clear that computers on campus should have filtering software so no students could access inappropriate sites to begin with.

Works Cited

State of New Jersey. (2004). Safe and Ethical Use of Computers / Internet Protection Act.

Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://www.state.nj.us.

Trenton Board of Education. (2007). Technology / Acceptable Use of the Internet. Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://www.trenton.k12.nj.us.

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

State of New Jersey. (2004). Safe and Ethical Use of Computers / Internet Protection Act.

Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://www.state.nj.us.

Trenton Board of Education. (2007). Technology / Acceptable Use of the Internet. Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://www.trenton.k12.nj.us.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Response to Intervention RTI
Words: 6803 Length: 16 Document Type: Term Paper

RTI Response to Intervention Response to Intervention (RTI) Over the past decade, rapid changes have occurred in general educational practice to increase the focus on early identification of and intervention for students considered at risk. The aptly named response-to-intervention (RTI) model of service delivery is generally described as a multi-tiered model whereby students receive interventions of increasing intensity, with movement from one level to another based on demonstrated performance and rate of progress

Educational Scenario
Words: 1411 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Education Scenario Response from District Superintendent Bill James How did the parents' letter make you feel? Be candid in your response. How did I feel when reading this belligerent letter? My first impression after reading half way through the letter was, here is a member of (or an ideological believer in) the Tea Party and the school's multicultural programs give him a perfect opportunity to rage against immigration. Reading all the way through,

Social Work Evaluation of an Early Interview
Words: 1188 Length: 3 Document Type: Case Study

Social Work Evaluation of an Early Interview The interview conducted was with a colleague of mine who I met in school a little while back. She comes from a Persian family, as her parents immigrated to the United States from Iran in the late 1970s. Watching her parents start from scratch in a whole new country was always very inspiring to her. Although she was born in the United States, her extended

Education Plan of Action Allegations
Words: 1068 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

However, it is now up to me to develop my own "reasonable cause" rather than relying solely on hearsay. An interview with Mr. Brown might help me to clarify the issues. I would request his assistance, by asking for the names of his daughter's friends. I would endeavor to meet privately and confidentially with those students, and with no pressure placed upon them. Next, I would contact my superintendent. The

Preferences in Learning Between American
Words: 23082 Length: 65 Document Type: Dissertation

The trainer will then focus on the steps to be taken to develop new skills. For example, if the trainer wants to talk about motivating, leading, negotiating, selling or speaking, it is best to start with what the learners do well before showing some chart on Maslow's theory, Posner's leadership practices, or selling skills from some standard package that has been develop elsewhere. Many foreign trainers make grave errors

Coral Reefs One of the First Lessons
Words: 1260 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Coral Reefs One of the first lessons that nearly every one of us learns is that it is important to share. We are told to share our snacks with our fellow kindergarteners and to share our toys with visiting cousins. We are told to share the dinner table conversation and our good wishes. And these admonitions are generally cross-cultural: Different cultures and different religious traditions all ask that their members act

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now