Checking out Porn sites
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My HR issues seem to come in cycles...
Our company does a lot of volunteer work and we are currently working with High School students. They come here once a week and it was brought to my attention today that 2 weeks ago a couple of the kids were surfing porn sites.
We have already updated the computers so that this won't happen again. My question is do we notify the school and/or their parents?
Please give me your thoughts.
Thank you!
Our company does a lot of volunteer work and we are currently working with High School students. They come here once a week and it was brought to my attention today that 2 weeks ago a couple of the kids were surfing porn sites.
We have already updated the computers so that this won't happen again. My question is do we notify the school and/or their parents?
Please give me your thoughts.
Thank you!
Comments
Gene
2. If you are sure it is them I would tell whoever is in charge of the students at the school. I would let the school handle the parent side of it. You don't want to get caught up in the "you framed my poor innocent child" speech. Let the school handle that.
They need to learn real quick what is/is not acceptable in a place of business. I think you'll be doing them a favor.
I will pass along your advice in notifying the school - I would hate for it to come back to us that we new about it and said nothing.
Thank you!!!
Kids making stupid mistakes and not learning turn into adults making stupid mistakes. We've got enough of those.
If so, this might be a great place to insert a bit of language that would advise the student/parents/school of the reprecussions of inappropriate behavior. This will also protect you...and give you a step by step process for handling any future matters
Unless you've got an eye witness, simply having them on camera at the computer will create a "he did it, no it was him" fiasco. Then, there's the remote possibility that you will have to defend yourself against Johnny's mom's accusations that you did nothing to block access to such filth knowing fully well that kids would have access.
Again, given everything on my plate and the rest of the stuff that kids are getting into today, is this worth the hassle? To me, no. You can't turn back the hands of time on this one and I'm afraid that telling the world about Johnny's affinity towards bare breasts and buttocks is not going to change a thing.
Gene
It sure is hard to pretend you are working when you're laughing so hard you're crying. I haven't had a laugh like that in a long time. I have to be honest, I just came up with the name out of the blue. While I was typing I thought, " I wonder if Larry is going to chime in on this one?" And by golly, there you are.
I would never take a shot at you Larry, you're one of the coolest guys I don't know.
If you give them access to your equipment, it is your job to limit access and you have learned your lesson. An admonition to the group will be sufficient. What if you had caught a couple of the guys peeking around the corner at the woman in the cubicle with the breast enhancements and short skirt? There are more productive ways to handle this positively than tattling on the students. Maybe it's a good way to tell them what is and is not acceptable in the workplace as they ready themselves to move into that arena in the next several years.
Now, if you had caught 'Larry' with Bonnie sitting in his lap while surfing, rolling his fist skyward and chanting "YES", that might be worthy of disciplinary action from the school sponsor.
The employer here is the guilty party, not the kids.
An "affinity towards bare breasts and buttocks" or "peeking around the corner at the woman in the cubicle with the breast enhancements and short skirt" is not (IMHO) porn. That's probably normal and conspicuous of other adults in the workplace. And - probably why businesses establish 'proper' dress code. Your business probably has standards for using the internet and email. The students should be held to the same standard as you would hold your employees. Students should be given a code of conduct, shorter but similar to what you give employees.
These kids are here as part of a program called Life Smarts. (we just won the state championship 2 weeks ago and we are going to San Francisco in April for nationals) That aside - it was "our bad" that we did not inform them of internet usage.
Since we do not know if there were more than the two we caught checking out "bootie" sites we are going to speak to them as a group - which will also include "if you are caught - we will need to notify the school"
Thank you for bringing to light a crucial part that was missing in our orientation process with these kids.
I hope you all have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Bottoms up! (no pun inteneded)
x:D
>doing nothing. Don, you also advised not to
>"blabber" to the school officials. My opinion
>is that kids that age don't have to be
>specifically told not to surf for porn sites
>while visiting a place of business. It's not
>only common sense, I'm sure it's standard
>procedure at their school. Computer usage is
>not confined to businesses. If I were the
>teacher sponsoring that program I would darn
>sure want to know who the knuckleheads were who
>did that, because their actions could jeopardize
>a program that's valuable to the other students.
> As an educator, I would want to know who did it
>because if you act like a knucklehead and no one
>corrects you you're pretty much gonna stay a
>knucklehead. As a parent, I would want to know
>if MY kid did it for the same reason as in the
>previous sentence. It’s called “accountability”
>and if you don’t learn it when you’re young,
>you’ll never learn it.
>
>
Exactly.
Educators are all about control. Most educators are control freaks. It comes through in your posts. As an educator you would darn sure want to know who the knuckleheads were....yada yada. Would it not be more appropriate to say, As an educator, I feel I have a right to know if one of my students has been disruptive, acted inappropriately or jeopardized one of our educational programs so I can deal positively with those behaviors and properly guide the student?
There are a variety of approaches to changing behavior and getting people (even youngsters) to see the error of their ways. Tattling on them is not always the best answer. Changing the students' behavior and increasing their awareness of acceptable workplace behaviors is the goal here (I assume), not giving the teacher a greater sense of the power of control. My guess is had the teacher been tattled to, the students would have been sanctioned by either removing them from the class, flunking them, having them sit in suspension or study hall, giving them a zero for the day or perhaps expelling them altogether. Those are typical educational institution responses. The employer admonishing the group or the several involved will have a more positive, more lasting effect and will go with the students the rest of their lives. (This is simply the opinion of a simple minded person who never could behave in school).
Bottom line... We ALL have done things that we PRAYED at night our parents would not find out about. Whether they were right or wrong we did not want to get busted for it. (you all are going down memory lane right now, arent' you?)
And just think - we didn't turn out to be bad people. Ok, maybe that's pushing it! x0:)
So, with that said, wipe out your personal feelings (those with children) do you REALLY think I should notify the school and/or the parents?
I still am sticking by my answer of just having a meeting with them - but I thought I would just flip in my two cents based on the responses received...
Be safe!
When I was 14 I busted a raw egg on the front seat of a convertible thinking it was an enemy of mine. Come to find out it was a man's car who was one of the owner's of the lumber company in my town. He called me and had me walk all the way from my house to have a conversation with him in his office. I have never forgotten that. He could easily have called my dad who would have whipped my butt and accomplished nothing. As it was, I learned a lesson and also had to wash the man's car for three weeks.