Who’s drawing the Line in the sand?: Parental and Educational Systems’ Rights and Responsibilities

I read an article online today titled “Privacy breach or public safety?  Teens’ Facebook posts monitored by school district.” Authored by the Associated Press. This is the original article's link.  Basically, a Southern California school district is monitoring the public posts made by their 14,000 middle school and high school students on various social media outlets via a hired company called Geo Listening.  The school districts goal is to “curtail online bullying, drug use and other problems after two area teenagers committed suicide last year” as reported in this article. In fact, they also reported that Geo Listening expects to be monitoring about 3,000 schools worldwide by the end of the year per the company founder, Chris Frydrych.  From the above referenced article I read, this school district is paying Geo Listening “$40,500 to scour public post by the attending students on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, blogs and other sites so the Geo Listening analysts will be alerted to terms that suggest suicidal thoughts, bullying, vandalism and even the use of obscenities.  When they find posts they think should spur an intervention or anything that violates schools’ student codes of conduct, Geo Listening alerts the campus.” 

I undoubtedly agree that when our children are onsite at a school or an educational systems’ campus of any kind physically and presently participating in activities such as school classes, school sporting events, school educational activities, school sponsored groups or school sponsored social activities provided and monitored by the school and/or educational system, they are to abide by the school’s and/or educational systems’ rules and regulations while physically onsite at these above described events.  In saying this, here are my following questions:

 · Since when has it become the educational systems’ right and/or responsibility to monitor our children outside of onsite school classes, activities or events of any kind whether they be online via the internet and social media outlets or in physical person?   

· Outside of school and/or educational system provided and monitored classes, sports, groups, or social activities don’t we as the biological parents and legal guardians of these children maintain full rights and responsibilities to manage, raise, teach, guide, and monitor our children as we see fit without the intervention and/or participation of the educational system administrators becoming involved?

Though I usually don’t look for an argument nor do I choose to debate current events just to debate, this subject is really bothersome to me.  My husband and I are the parents biologically and legally of our children.  They are OUR CHILDREN.  Our children are not owned by the educational system nor is our educational system ultimately responsible for the actions of our children outside of the proverbial walls of their campuses.  WE THE PARENTS own our children and their behaviors. I use the term “own” here as in ultimate responsibility. The law, the courts and everyone in between will hold us the parents responsible for any action or inaction that our children take or make.  Ultimately it is the parents’ responsibility to monitor every facet of our children’s education, behavior, mental and physical health and activities whether they be online or in physical person.  It is also our right and responsibility to exercise proper, timely, appropriate and reasonable personal education, exposure, and monitoring of our children per their ages and stages in life as we so choose or not choose.

Below is my general thought process and “Humble Opinion” as well as the near verbatim online response to the article. 

  “It is not the educational system’s right to monitor my children’s behavior outside of the educational system’s walls and take action.  Period.  I am the parent of my children.  The educators are not.  The schools' jurisdiction over my children stops when my children leave school property or a school sponsored event.  Beyond that point it is within my parental rights and responsibility as well as local law and law enforcement to decide what is and is not acceptable.  I believe that the educational system as a whole has crossed the line of personal privacy, jurisdictional rights and obligations and have begun interfering where they do not belong.  Though our educators play an extremely pivotal part in our children’s' lives, they ARE NOT the parents of my children and last I checked, they DO NOT have a right to tell me how to parent my children in any way shape or form.  My child’s behavior and participation in an online or offline social forum outside of a school building or event is solely my responsibility until they are no longer legally considered to be of minor age.  I am the one who is ultimately responsible for my child, his or her behavior, mental state, medical care and overall participation in society as a whole.  If my children were to screw up in school, the educators would call me because I am the parent of said children who is 100% responsible for all facets of my children’s lives. The educational system may be academically educating my children but YOU ARE NOT given the privilege or right to parent them, or monitor them outside of school, school events, sporting events or the like.  That’s my job. You do your job and I will do mine.   And if I don’t do mine, then the local law and local law enforcement will take it from there.  Then I as the parent of the children will have to answer to myself, my children, as well as to the local law enforcement that has the legal right to intervene. “

What do you think?  Where do you think the line should be drawn?  Do you think I’m off my rocker?  Let me know.