Dear Parents and Guardians,

Earlier this morning, a message was sent from our Superintendent of Schools to inform parents of a news feature that aired last night regarding the lifting of some photographs of young people from their Facebook pages. The students were from several local schools, including Sandy Run. As was stated in the e-mail, from what we have been able to discern, there is nothing whatsoever indecent regarding the photographs, but the websites to which they have been uploaded are inappropriate and highly questionable.

The incident does serve as a reminder of the importance of educating students about not only all the good things that the Internet can do for us, but some of the potential risks as well. In this case, our students as far as we can determine, did absolutely nothing wrong, but any photographs posted are accessible to the world.

As part of the instructional program at Sandy Run Middle School, we actively strive to educate our students regarding internet safety. All students across grades 6, 7, and 8 enrolled in the Computer Technology course with Mrs. Dorothy Weiss (a mandated course) are provided a full unit of instruction on internet safety and security. Health classes also address this concern. In October a special detective from Montgomery County served as the guest speaker at an assembly program for all 8th grade health classes in the auditorium on internet safety. On alternating years, we also invite Special Agent Mary McCoy, from the State Attorney Generals Office, to address the students and parents concerning internet safety. Ms. McCoy is slated to speak again on March 21 at 7 p.m. in our auditorium.

While this topic is in the news, our hope is to take advantage of the interest that has been generated, and to schedule a special evening meeting for parents sometime in December on the topic of keeping children safe on the Internet.

Please be assured that all of us at Sandy Run and in the School District am very concerned about the safety of all our children and view the safety and well-being of our students on and away from school as of paramount importance. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or phone at extension 7201.

Take care,

Denise