Help me save ELGG at a public high school!

[Steve Maher]

I am the History Department chair at a public high school in New Jersey
who needs some assistance in regards to policy
considerations when an academic institution runs ELGG. If I can’t find an answer soon we will lose our new ELGG.

Our administration is concerned that students can create communities
and exchange materials privately, away from the scrutiny of even the
network administrator. We are not up against a team of entrenched
stone-age recalcitrants, but rather a fear of being in court trying to
explain how the school created an environment for children that cannot
be supervised. We all know they will still conspire through Facebook,
Myspace and even by texting, nonetheless the concern remains. Even
though we cannot police every conversation in every hallway and
cafeteria, this is more akin to allowing kids to create a room and lock
everyone out of it.

We simply can’t be the only people who have confronted this. How do
middle schools run ELGG? Are the ELGG communities that run across
schools concerned about harassment and abuse in student-created
communities. Although this is New Jersey, there must be aggressive
lawyers somewhere else in the country.

Is there a technical solution to this?

Please help me save this ELGG, the kids are counting on us!

[Author]

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