Published: Wednesday, Apr. 02, 2008 / Updated: Wednesday, Apr. 02, 2008 10:55 AM
Web site posting angers NFHS students, parents
Nation Ford High School suspended a student last week after one of his online message board posts caused a "major disruption" to classes.
The student, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, posted a "definition" of Fort Mill on www.urbandictionary.com - it was recently removed - that included derogatory comments of a sexual nature about fellow students at both Nation Ford High and Fort Mill High. The post came to the attention of school officials after another student breached the school's online site-blocking software and visited Urban Dictionary during class. For breaching the district software, that student received two days in-school suspension and lost Internet privileges for the rest of the year.
"I had girls in the office in tears and upset parents," Nation Ford Principal Beverley Bowman said. "When it comes to campus and disrupts our day, that's when we get involved."
The student posted the offending comments, which included references to drug and alcohol abuse and singled out several male and female students by name for ridicule, some of it sexual, from his home computer March 12. Another student pulled up the site the following week at school and was caught. Bowman said many students don't think the school had any business punishing him for something he did off campus, but she sees it differently.
"It's no different than an anonymous note or letter being passed around that could have been written at home that causes a major disruption," Bowman said.
She also said that when the school discovered the postings, the parents of students named, including those who attend Fort Mill High, were notified.
Other online postings of a similar nature on Web sites such as MySpace and FaceBook that come to the attention of school officials would be handled the same way, Bowman added.
The father of the student who posted the remarks, reached by phone Monday, declined to comment.
The father of one of the victims, also reached by phone, said he tried to press charges for slander, but doesn't think law enforcement can do anything because South Carolina does not have a cyber bullying law. He had filed a complaint with the Fort Mill Police Department Friday, March 21.
"All the parents got together to get the site to remove it," he said. "There's still a lot of upset parents. I wouldn't say we're satisfied, but we'll have to live with it."
The student, who received two days of out-of-school suspension, is accused of violating a section of the Nation Ford Code of Conduct which states: "Any act of such nature that poses a threat to the physical or mental welfare to students or causes disruption to school." That is a Level 3 violation punishable by OSS, Bowman said.
"Students just don't think when they post things that it's going to the whole world," Bowman lamented.
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