Home School Reason #139

Ok, maybe it isn't in the USA but wait a few minutes . . .

Student sex act in class recorded at CAHS

Widely circulated cell phone video is titled 'cahs porn'; school officials silent as parents, political leaders and law enforcement urge appropriate action
By LYNN FREEHILL
Thursday, May 25th 2006 ST. THOMAS - A digital video recording of two Charlotte Amalie High School students performing a sex act in a classroom, with classmates present, is circulating among students and others using cell phones to transmit and receive the video.
The father of a CAHS student contacted The Daily News after his daughter received the 36-second video on her cell phone and told him about it. The father told The Daily News that another student used a cell phone to record the sophomore boy and junior girl openly engaged in sexual activity last week.
The video, which is called "cahs porn" and was shot from several angles, shows the girl straddling the boy and holding her spread legs up in the air. The boy is seated at a desk with his back to the front of the classroom. The video shows the actions of the two students and picks up background sounds - including what sounds like an adult's voice. According to reports to The Daily News, that voice belongs to the teacher of the class.
On Wednesday, CAHS administrators and the V.I. Board of Education sought to suppress information about the tape and about how district officials are handling the matter. CAHS principal Jeanette Smith-Barry refused to say Wednesday whether disciplinary action had been taken against any teacher, against the students who were on the video or against the student who recorded the video and distributed it.
Because the students on the video are minors engaged in a sex act, the video is child pornography. Federal statutes outlawing such material define child pornography as any material that visually depicts sexual conduct by children.
Deputy Chief Elvin Fahie Sr. said the V.I. Police Department is prepared to investigate any such activity on a school campus.
"It may not be deemed to some people as a violation of the law, but little things grow into big things, so we need to be ahead of it from law enforcement standpoint," he said.
Fahie said that he did not know whether school officials had reported the matter as of Wednesday.
On Tuesday, administrators told students that if they possessed the video on their cell phones, they should erase it.
V.I. Education Commissioner Noreen Michael and St. Thomas-St. John Insular Superintendent Emily Carter did not return Daily News calls Tuesday and Wednesday seeking information about the district's handling of the pornography situation and about the district's policy on students' use of cell phones on campus.
V.I. Board of Education Acting Executive Director Laurie Isaac said that as of Wednesday afternoon, the board had not been briefed by CAHS administrators or Education Department officials. The board has no policy on student cell phones, she said.
Sen. Shawn-Michael Malone, chairman of the V.I. Senate Committee on Education, Culture and Youth, said that students had told him about the video but that CAHS administrators had not responded to his request for information about the situation.
Anthony Francis, president of the CAHS Parent Teacher Student Association, also said Wednesday that he was awaiting an explanation from officials about what happened.
He said he planned to visit the school today to meet with an assistant principal so he could learn the details and decide whether to call a special meeting of the PTSA. The group has concluded its regular meetings for the year.
Francis expressed dismay about the situation.
"The thing is, how is the school going to handle it?" he said. "These are things that could be easily posted on the Internet and remain in circulation indefinitely."
V.I. Police Department officials said child pornography filmed on a school campus is a grave issue that requires the involvement of law enforcement, not just the disciplinary discretion of administrators.
"Any video or film depicting any child involved in a sexual act is illegal in the United States of America," police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Hannah said. "For each film that is distributed, that person could be charged accordingly" with territorial and federal crimes.
"It's taken very seriously because it's involving child abuse, whether it's done by a child or not," he said.

Homeschool Reason #138

The survey says what?

Sexual-orientation questions cause stir at Port high school

By TOM KERTSCHER

Posted: May 15, 2006

Port Washington - Parents are angry and school leaders are promising action in response to a "Heterosexual Questionnaire," approved by two teachers, that asked students questions such as: "If you have never slept with someone of your same gender, then how do you know you wouldn't prefer it?"

Hundreds of Port Washington High School students were told to submit written answers and discuss the survey.

The questionnaire was distributed by a student organization, which then led a full class-period discussion. Two teachers approved distribution of the survey. The principal did not.

Parent Lisa Krier on Monday called for the two teachers to be disciplined, saying the survey was a form of sexual harassment by teachers against students.

"If somebody doesn't call them on it, it will continue," she said.

Both Principal Duane Woelfel and Patty Ruth, president of the Port Washington-Saukville School Board, said the survey was inappropriate and that proper authorization was not given before it was brought into classrooms.

"The message that really needs to go out at this point is that this administration will ensure that this type of survey will never go out again," Ruth said.

Woelfel said he has received complaints from about two dozen parents and community members regarding the survey. The principal said he was not aware of the survey until a parent gave him a copy a day after it was distributed.

"We were extremely concerned when we found out about it, and we're going to make sure that it doesn't happen again," Woelfel said.

The teachers who Woelfel said are responsible for the survey - social studies teacher Sarah Olson and communications teacher Julie Grudzinski - could not be reached for comment.

Woelfel estimated that the survey was given to about 400 of the school's 930 students on April 25, the day before the national Day of Silence, an annual event co-sponsored by the New York City-based Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

According to the Day of Silence Web site, the event is a "student-led day of action" that attempts to eliminate harassment of non-heterosexual students.

Woelfel said that, in connection with the Day of Silence, the school's Students for Unity spent the day visiting classrooms. They distributed the surveys and led discussions, he said.

Woelfel said that the Students for Unity's goal of trying to prevent harassment of all people with "alternative lifestyles" is good but that the survey was not appropriate. The two teachers "are very remorseful," he said.

Some of the questions apparently were intended to make heterosexuals understand what it's like to be gay or lesbian. Those questions included: "What do you think caused your heterosexuality?" and "When did you decide you were heterosexual?"

Students in the group presenting the survey were trying to convey that "students who have an alternative lifestyle get asked these questions every day, so please be considerate. It was an exercise in compassion and understanding that did not work out real well," Woelfel said.

Woelfel said the survey violated school policy because parents were not notified in advance and given the opportunity to decide whether their children should participate.

Students were mixed in their reactions.

Sophomore Justin Perry said he didn't like being surveyed because he is against homosexuality - although he doesn't think it's something that people should be harassed about.

Perry said he did not understand the point of spending a class period on the survey. "I know it's a survey," he said, "but what is it trying to teach us?"

Freshman Jaime Reuter said the survey caused such a stir that, even though her class didn't take the survey, her social studies teacher made it part of a class discussion a couple of days later.

Reuter said she would have been offended if asked to take the survey. "I shouldn't have to answer that because it's private information," she said.

Reuter said she was sympathetic to supporters of the survey who had hoped it would reduce harassment of homosexuals, but she thought the survey backfired.

"I think it just got people really, really mad," she said.

Woelfel said he is still investigating the incident but would decide soon, along with the superintendent's office, whether the two teachers will be disciplined.

He also said the staff is working on a proposal that would impose tighter rules on circulating surveys in schools.

Ruth, the School Board president, said the board's Policy Committee could begin discussing a new policy as early as next week.