ashbeeigh
09-22-2006, 12:14 PM
Educator sues teens over page on MySpace
Web Posted: 09/21/2006 11:44 PM CDT
Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News Staff
Accusations that two 16-year-old students cyber ambushed their assistant principal have landed their parents in legal trouble, highlighting what has become a new battleground for student-educator animosity.
Anna Draker, an assistant principal at Clark High School in the Northside Independent School District, filed a civil lawsuit against two students at the school — junior Benjamin Schreiber and sophomore Ryan Todd — and the boys' parents, claiming defamation, libel, negligence and negligent supervision over a page on the popular Web site MySpace.com.
Benjamin also is facing criminal felony charges. Both boys are named in the lawsuit. Their parents, Lisa Schreiber and Lisa and Steve Todd, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
"This is the most serious, most concerted effort that I've seen a teacher or a school administrator undertake involving a posting on MySpace," said Steve Jones, a professor of communication at the University of Illinois-Chicago and author of "CyberSociety" who has written extensively on Internet use.
"This is pretty remarkable," he said. "I think a lot of people will be watching this."
Draker found out in April that someone had created a page on MySpace, a public free-access Web site popular among students, using her name and picture from the school's Web site. The page was filled with, according to Draker's attorney, Murphy Klasing, lewd, defamatory and obscene comments, pictures and graphics. It was written as though Draker herself had posted the information.
The Web page was up about a month before Draker discovered it.
"By that point, she had no idea how many people in the world had seen it," Klasing said. "We do know it had been seen by numerous individuals, including many students at Clark."
MySpace.com removed the page as soon as Draker contacted them and told them she had not posted the information.
Bexar County Assistant District Attorney Jill Mata would not release information about the case. She did confirm that juvenile charges are pending against a local high school student involving retaliation and fraudulent use of identifying information. Both are third-degree felonies.
Tormenting teachers — from drawing caricatures on notebooks to old-fashioned slam books — is an age-old activity for students, but the Internet has taken the practice to a new level, with students using its anonymous universe to launch attacks against teachers, and for college students, professors. While there has been at least one case where students were criminally charged with impersonation — two Indiana middle schoolers accused of impersonating their principal earlier this year — most of the incidents have only resulted in suspensions.
A dean at Clark brought the Web page to Draker's attention. Besides lewd language, the site also falsely identified Draker as a lesbian. Klasing said Draker, who is married and has small children, was "devastated."
The Web page included instant messages from people Draker didn't know who lived near Clark High and made suggestive, lewd and obscene comments based on the Web page's content.
Northside officials investigated the incident and suspended Benjamin Schreiber for three days. Ryan Todd had to attend a parent conference. Northside's police department was called in to investigate and forwarded their findings to the district attorney.
District spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said schools have little control over what students do on computers away from the school. According to Draker's lawsuit, Ryan Todd admitted that Benjamin Schreiber created the Web site using Ryan's computer. The lawsuit also maintains that both boys have had discipline problems at the school and that Draker has had to discipline Ryan Todd numerous times.
"It's a new era for us dealing with outside Internet activity by kids," Gonzalez said. "There is no school policy that governs it."
Klasing said Draker wants the students to face consequences. She's suing for an unspecified amount for damages for emotional distress, mental anguish, lost wages and court costs, but Klasing said the lawsuit is really about teaching a lesson.
"Primarily, her goal here is accountability," Klasing said.
Jones said kids have been finding ways to ridicule educators for generations, but the venue is different now.
"These technologies are incredibly public and the potential for harm is much greater simply because these comments and criticisms are being disseminated potentially around the world," Jones said. "It's an issue of scale that's particularly difficult to contend with."
It was in the paper today, but I just thought it was super ghetto (and hilarious at the same time).
Web Posted: 09/21/2006 11:44 PM CDT
Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
Express-News Staff
Accusations that two 16-year-old students cyber ambushed their assistant principal have landed their parents in legal trouble, highlighting what has become a new battleground for student-educator animosity.
Anna Draker, an assistant principal at Clark High School in the Northside Independent School District, filed a civil lawsuit against two students at the school — junior Benjamin Schreiber and sophomore Ryan Todd — and the boys' parents, claiming defamation, libel, negligence and negligent supervision over a page on the popular Web site MySpace.com.
Benjamin also is facing criminal felony charges. Both boys are named in the lawsuit. Their parents, Lisa Schreiber and Lisa and Steve Todd, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
"This is the most serious, most concerted effort that I've seen a teacher or a school administrator undertake involving a posting on MySpace," said Steve Jones, a professor of communication at the University of Illinois-Chicago and author of "CyberSociety" who has written extensively on Internet use.
"This is pretty remarkable," he said. "I think a lot of people will be watching this."
Draker found out in April that someone had created a page on MySpace, a public free-access Web site popular among students, using her name and picture from the school's Web site. The page was filled with, according to Draker's attorney, Murphy Klasing, lewd, defamatory and obscene comments, pictures and graphics. It was written as though Draker herself had posted the information.
The Web page was up about a month before Draker discovered it.
"By that point, she had no idea how many people in the world had seen it," Klasing said. "We do know it had been seen by numerous individuals, including many students at Clark."
MySpace.com removed the page as soon as Draker contacted them and told them she had not posted the information.
Bexar County Assistant District Attorney Jill Mata would not release information about the case. She did confirm that juvenile charges are pending against a local high school student involving retaliation and fraudulent use of identifying information. Both are third-degree felonies.
Tormenting teachers — from drawing caricatures on notebooks to old-fashioned slam books — is an age-old activity for students, but the Internet has taken the practice to a new level, with students using its anonymous universe to launch attacks against teachers, and for college students, professors. While there has been at least one case where students were criminally charged with impersonation — two Indiana middle schoolers accused of impersonating their principal earlier this year — most of the incidents have only resulted in suspensions.
A dean at Clark brought the Web page to Draker's attention. Besides lewd language, the site also falsely identified Draker as a lesbian. Klasing said Draker, who is married and has small children, was "devastated."
The Web page included instant messages from people Draker didn't know who lived near Clark High and made suggestive, lewd and obscene comments based on the Web page's content.
Northside officials investigated the incident and suspended Benjamin Schreiber for three days. Ryan Todd had to attend a parent conference. Northside's police department was called in to investigate and forwarded their findings to the district attorney.
District spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said schools have little control over what students do on computers away from the school. According to Draker's lawsuit, Ryan Todd admitted that Benjamin Schreiber created the Web site using Ryan's computer. The lawsuit also maintains that both boys have had discipline problems at the school and that Draker has had to discipline Ryan Todd numerous times.
"It's a new era for us dealing with outside Internet activity by kids," Gonzalez said. "There is no school policy that governs it."
Klasing said Draker wants the students to face consequences. She's suing for an unspecified amount for damages for emotional distress, mental anguish, lost wages and court costs, but Klasing said the lawsuit is really about teaching a lesson.
"Primarily, her goal here is accountability," Klasing said.
Jones said kids have been finding ways to ridicule educators for generations, but the venue is different now.
"These technologies are incredibly public and the potential for harm is much greater simply because these comments and criticisms are being disseminated potentially around the world," Jones said. "It's an issue of scale that's particularly difficult to contend with."
It was in the paper today, but I just thought it was super ghetto (and hilarious at the same time).