Police will look into threat on teacher:

Police in Lenexa, Kansas are investigating a threat made against a Trailridge Middle School teacher...

Cpl. Brad Martens, Trailridge's school resource officer, said that in a posting on the online journal site Xanga.com a pupil threatened to kill a teacher over a grade. The police report filed in the incident said the threat was posted Jan. 17. It is not known when the posting was discovered, but the teacher notified Martens on Feb. 28.

Apparently parents of Trailridge Middle School students have the "Not My Kid" syndrome...

Trailridge parents who attended a special school board meeting Monday night complained that the school was overreacting to Web log entries that should not be taken literally. The meeting was a community forum where parents and patrons could ask questions about any topic.

"We all say things out of frustration, irritation and exasperation that we do not mean literally, and our children are no different, Joanne McNair, who has a child at the school, said at the meeting. "I understand that we live in a world where we must be aware that some people are disturbed and can be dangerous. But that's not enough of a reason to try to read dangerous motives into innocent, if perhaps not well-chosen, words."

When someone posts online that they are going to kill a teacher over a grade in these times is not "innocent, not well chosen words". How many people thought the writings of Eric Harris and Jeff Weise were just the ramblings of angst ridden teens before they killed their victims?

Apparently lax parenting is abundant in Lenexa...

Trailridge parent Todd Parker questioned the amount of resources the district was devoting to monitoring Xanga.

Kaplan said the district does not have staff dedicated to monitoring online journals. In fact, she said, the three most popular sites are blocked from school computers and teachers cannot access them from work.

So the school is doing their job by blocking access to sites like Xanga and MySpace. It's up to the parents to know what their children are posting online.

Superintendent Marjorie Kaplan agrees...

Kaplam said that parents need to monitor their children's Internet activities.

"The message that you need to send to your child is that threatening is wrong," Kaplan said. "And there is a possibility of the school district taking action if they find out about it. That would be the best safeguard and then the school wouldn't have to overreact."

Wow, common sense from a school administrator. Will wonders never cease? But she makes a valid point. It's not up to the school to monitor your kids' online activity after school hours. It's yours as a parent. Stop trying to be your kids' friend all the time and start being their parent. If you don't know how to check their online activities learn. If you don't have the time then make time. The safety of your children and countless other children depend on it.

As always it was your pleasure.

Cross posted at TheTrenchcoat Chronicles.