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Schools Are Helping Police Spy On Kids' Social Media Activity (orlandosentinel.com)
schwit1 shares this excerpt from an article in The Washington Post: Schools in Florida are renewing a program that monitors their students' social media activity for criminal or threatening behavior, although it has caused some controversy since its adoption last year. The school system in Orange County, where Orlando is located, recently told the Orlando Sentinel that the program, which partners the school system with local police departments, has been successful in protecting students' safety, saying that it led to 12 police investigations in the past year. The school district says it will pay about $18,000 annually for SnapTrends, the monitoring software used to check students' activity. It's the same software used by police in Racine, Wisconsin, to track criminal activity and joins a slew of similar social media monitoring software used by law enforcement to keep an eye on the community.
SnapTrends collects data from public posts on students' social media accounts by scanning for keywords that signify cases of cyberbullying, suicide threats, or criminal activity. School security staff then comb through flagged posts and alert police when they see fit.
SnapTrends collects data from public posts on students' social media accounts by scanning for keywords that signify cases of cyberbullying, suicide threats, or criminal activity. School security staff then comb through flagged posts and alert police when they see fit.
It is totally possible to fire bad teachers, especially in an employers' rights hellhole like Florida. I know more teachers than a lot of people and nobody wants to get rid of bad ones more than other teachers.
While every profession has people who don't belong in it, you do understand though that 'fire bad teachers' is right wing code for 'get rid of people who teach our kids how to think critically and question things', right?
Rather than try and address the CAUSE of these problems, they are treating the SYMPTOM instead...
In their defense, they need to know the symptoms before they can treat the cause. You try walking into your doctor's office and say, "I feel fine" and then wonder why he didn't find the cancer in your pancreas.
Pep rally Friday always sucked, that is when the jocks and the cheerleaders came to school in their uniforms and got to show off to the school and have their achievements broadcast over the speakers. Did the science team or chess team ever get that? Hell no.
Aww...po' widdwe baboo! "Nobody recognizes my unique gifts and talents and it's just not fair!"
Back in high school, I wasn't much of an athlete--like you, I spent most of my time in the computer lab at the local college. But just because I wasn't a good athlete, I didn't whine because nobody patted me on the head and said, "You, too, are a special snowflake."
I was Captain of the Math Team. Imagine how much recognition I got for that! Hell, even our "faculty advisor" (e.g., "coach") usually had better things to do than attend a math meet, meaning that I was the one "in charge." I had to arrange the transportation, usually checking with the other schools in the area to see who was going and could we bus-pool with them. We didn't even get our own bus! But I did it because it was fun and interesting. I didn't whine about how we never had pep rallies for the Math Team. I didn't whine about how the administration didn't announce our victories over the PA system. I didn't whine about how we didn't get the same backing and support from the school that the sports teams got. You don't join the Math Team for accolades--you do it because you like solving math problems.
Yes, some thing are more popular than other things. The Super Bowl is more popular than the World Series which is more popular than the NBA Finals which is more popular than the Masters Golf Tournament which is more popular than professional bowling, whose championship I can't even be bothered to look up. And if you're involved in one of those lesser popular sports, you won't get the attention. But if you're playing sports--or doing anything, really--to get attention, you're probably not going to be very good at it. Here in LA, I know a few people who are looking to become famous. They long to be a famous director or a famous actor. I also know a few people who love to direct films or act. The people who love what they do tend to do a better job than the ones who are looking to become famous.