Blogging From The Classroom: A Texas No-No

Here's an example of why it's probably not a good idea for teachers to update their blogs at school:

A Mansfield elementary school teacher resigned after school officials found she used her class computer to access a personal Web log chronicling sexual exploits and containing disparaging remarks about her students.

Becky Pelfrey, 38, had worked for the Mansfield district for three years and had spent seven years working for Arlington schools.

Her log featured links to sexually-oriented Web sites and comments about her students, including a reference to them as "stinky kids."

School district spokesman Terry Morawski said the district has not sought to file criminal charges and he is not certain that Pelfrey committed a crime.

Officials were alerted to the situation by an anonymous letter dated Sept. 22.

Pelfrey's husband, Bill Pelfrey, claimed the letter was written by his ex-wife and Becky Pelfrey's former best friend, Tanya Hanna. The families are involved in a custody dispute.

Hanna denied the claim.

I don't have to worry about the "problem" of accessing this site from our classroom's computer. Our school's internet filter, "Bess," doesn't allow classroom teachers to visit any site that has the word "blog" on its index page or in its URL.

Administrators, of course, have an "authorized override" which allows them to disable the filter and have unfettered access to the internet. Classroom teachers aren't trusted with this Awesome Amount of Freedom. ------------------------- Get entry guidelines for the next edition of The Carnival Of Education right here. See our latest posts over there.