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It is just the old retailers mentality. They still want physical stores to rule the roost. Just take a look at Boscov's (one of the financially 'healthy' retailers).... They couldn't be more confused... Physical stores vs Internet - https://www.readingeagle.com/m... . This article is about Cyber Monday... and yet all they can think about is their physical stores.

The Washington Times article credits Fox News. It quotes but does not credit the Reading Eagle, which appears to have first reported on this incident:

http://readingeagle.com/article/20131218/NEWS/312189945/1052

The Reading Eagle quotes but does not credit CNN. CNN last reported on the issue in June when this happened in Alabama.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/us/drug-survey-roadblocks/index.html?iref=allsearch

Clearly children are nothing more than hairless dogs that have developed the ability to walk upright.

Meet little Billy!

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unless it's a... Hair Bear!!

TNX PKD

And let me just say that Bess is completely annoying. I went to ELCO (which is another 20 minutes away from Kutztown past the parent's alma mater of Conrad Weiser) and then did a little computer work there (at ELCO) for a few years and Bess was always a step ahead of actual genuine student research. Valid sites were blocked, while some porn sites were not. Very frustrating, even to the teachers in whose classes we were doing the reports (because we'd show them this useful and informative page located on a reputable server that was blocked). Hopefully it's improved since then.

Here's a Reading-Eagle article about this.

By the way, looking at porn while one is at school is just stupid. Unlocking a computer that you've been given for nine months...not so stupid. What's it matter to the school district, it's not like they had sensative files on the laptops...sure, keep the network secure, but if getting admin access to a laptop equals admin network access, they've got more problems. But yes, hacking the network and doing illegal things on the school network is dumb.

By the way, I'm a Kutztown University grad, not that it's really relevant to the story, but I did spend four years in town...it's weird to see such a small place make national news again. For the geeks: Kutztown Borough was the first community in PA to have fiber to the house. linky, another link, and Google Search.

From http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1401578.asp

"The way the school district handled this whole situation was unbelievably atrocious," said Hillary A. Thomas, the mother of Sheldon Thomas, 17, who completed his junior year and is one of the students charged.

Hillary Thomas was among five parents who agreed to talk about the case.

They said the students' actions would have resulted in nothing more than grounding or loss of computer privileges if they did with a home computer what has happened on school laptops.

No permanent damage was done to the district's computer system and nobody was hurt by the students' misdeeds, they said.

"I'd have pulled the modem plug and it would have been hidden," said LeAnn M. Shoemaker, mother of John L. Shrawder, 15, a charged student who was a freshman.

The parents said they didn't learn of the charges until they received a recent letter from police.

Dr. Brenda A. Winkler, superintendent, said Friday that district officials contacted several parents.

"The high school did a lot of contacting," she said.

Parents also are upset they still have not received a copy of the complaint that lists the charges.

They said the district should have tighter security on its computers.

Kutztown Police Chief Theodore R. Cole has said it would be up to the Berks County Juvenile Probation Office to send the parents copies of the charges.

The students are not in custody. The letter from police asked them to go to the Kutztown police station for fingerprinting and identification. The parents said their children have not done that.

Thomas said her son downloaded iChat, a messaging program, and Acquisitions, a program for downloading music.

"We have not even seen the charges, so the whole thing's in limbo," Thomas said.

This news was also reported in the Reading Eagle/Reading Times.

In that article, it was said that the students were accessing porn sites, and HAD infact hacked the administrative network.

However, living in this area, I feel it necessary to point out that the papers around here can't handle technical articles, and and usually get the facts wrong. For all we know, they got the admin pass, and disabled the proxy (which was likely the n2h2 Bess Proxy), and all of this is being blown out of proportion.
Once more facts become clear, maybe we'll learn why the rest of the 80-100 students weren't charged.

I attended and worked IT for Conrad Weiser Area School District which is about 20 minutes away from Kutztown, where we had the BCIU come in to do a lot of work on machines. The BCIU is clueless, and security is their lowest priority. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the BCIU worked with Kutztown High to setup this network, making it all the easier for these kids.
Also, here are the nyud mirrors of the links:
FAQ
Kutztown Area Patriot Article
Laptop Initiative