Home Education 

Story

School Prohibits Use Of MySpace

Students Can't Have MySpace Account At School Or Home

Posted: 1:02 pm EDT March 23, 2007

A Bloomfield Hills school is enforcing a new policy that bans the use of a popular Web site.

St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School students were told recently that under a new school policy, called Think First, Stay Safe, the use of MySpace.com will be prohibited at school and at home, reported WDIV-TV.

The policy states that students enrolled at the school can't have a MySpace.com account or any similar type of personal site, according to a news release.

"The Internet can be wonderful for educational material, but it also can be unsafe," principal Sr. Margaret Van Velzen said.

At the beginning of each school year, students and parents will be required to sign an Internet policy.

School officials said it was necessary to apply the new policy after recent cases of adults, some in authoritative positions, posed as minors to converse or meet with young boys and girls.

Van Velzen said the decision was made with full support from the school's parents' organization.

"Ninety-nine-point-nine percent have been very supportive, and I've received many e-mails thanking me," Van Velzen said. "Our parent community is very supportive."

St. Hugo parent Kate Lynch said it's a great start.

  SURVEY
Do you think school officials should have the right to prohibit students from using MySpace.com?

"I think we've got a long way to go because it's a very difficult situation to grasp in its entirety," Lynch said. "There's so many things going on on the Internet and there's so much vulnerability for children."

Another St. Hugo parent, Liza Stanczak, said all schools should implement the policy.

"I think this is just the beginning of schools taking a stand against this kind of thing," Stanczak said. "I think this is going to have to happen because things are getting out of hand."

Students who have existing MySpace.com accounts must delete them. Students who do not delete their accounts cannot attend the school, Van Velzen said.