Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Discipline for Churchill student hackers kept private

Gazette:  Principal confirms eight youths changed grades
by Andre L. Taylor
Staff Writer

...Benz declined to release disciplinary details because the students are juveniles and instead urged parents to consult the student handbook for disciplinary protocols. But that explanation wasn't enough for the irate parents...
 
...As parents bickered with Benz for more than an hour about how the eight students connected to the breach are hurting the school's name, Laura Siegel sat quietly, front and center at the meeting. Siegel, the volunteer coordinator for the Churchill Cluster, said if other students knew what the consequences were, they could be deterred from repeating the act.

"Hacking into a big school system deserves expulsion," said Siegel, who has a son in his senior year at the school. "That's pretty serious."

3 comments:

  1. "He is not sure what is happening to the eighth student."

    That is not true. The "eight student" was withdrawn by his parents and is now out of the reach of MCPS. He is enrolled in a private school that is happy to have his tuition money.

    I would bet that half of the audience knew this and were upset that the school system was not being truthful.

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  2. Benz needs to go like 5 years ago. When will MCPS wake up and figure that out? She has badly mishandled this and a number of things before it. Who can forget her famous "letter" following a fight? She is tone deaf and basically inept at handling anything out of the ordinary. It's time for a new principal at WCHS! The kids, parents and teachers all deserve better.

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  3. If the first comment about the eighth student is correct, then I am delighted to see the Montgomery County Office of the State Prosecutor step in.

    Ultimately, kids have choices to make in life all we parents can do is try and instill the right value set to help frame these decisions. These were willful acts that have undermined the school's grading and had a profound impact.

    What happens next is about accountability. The system does not work if we do not hold the kids accountable. The values taught to the kids who did not participate will be worthless unless these eight are held accountable.

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