High School Doesn't Overreact To Fight Video Getting On YouTube

from the it's-too-bad-this-is-news... dept

Wed, Apr 8th 2009 12:46am — Mike Masnick

It's somewhat unfortunate that it is comment-worthy when a high school does not overreact and does not blame camera phones and YouTube for a school fight getting publicized on YouTube. Usually we see stories where school administrators, law enforcement or politicians assume that, because the video is on YouTube, it will encourage more infractions, and then they take out their anger on YouTube. They never seem willing to admit that by putting these videos on YouTube, it actually makes it easier to catch and punish those responsible. That's why it's so amazing to see this story, sent in by reader William Jackson, about a school that notes it's using the video of a fight to track down and punish those responsible and the principal, Dan Durbin, doesn't blame YouTube for this at all:

"This should remind our students that they're not going to get away with anything. If you try something like this, you're going to be seen on a security camera or on someone's cell phone.... The evidence of this makes our jobs easier because I don't have to go get it from a student. Sometimes things happen that we don't know about until well after the fact."

Even more impressive? He even seems to think that perhaps the school should rethink it's no-mobile-phones policy in light of this:

"We may need to embrace this technology in some capacity. Our students aren't going to keep their cell phones hidden away at all time. So I've asked our staff to think about what is the appropriate time to be using some of this technology. When we have something that happens at our school and a student captures it on their cell phone, we can't blame the technology. We have to look at what's going and what caused that to happen."

The local Police Chief, Matt Clancy, seems to feel the same way as well:

"It's a great tool for us. You've got it on video, and you can identify the person and see what they're doing. There's lots of video of amateur fights and street fights on YouTube. But will seeing that encourage someone to be violent any more than a television show or a movie? I don't know."

Yes, this all looks like common sense... but it's so uncommon these days that it's actually worth pointing out.

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Filed Under: fights, schools, youtube

14 Comments

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Lance, 8 Apr 2009 @ 3:42am

Common sense...
So god damn rare, it should be a superpower!
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OneDisciple, 8 Apr 2009 @ 4:12am

Re: Common sense...
"So god damn rare, it should be a superpower!"
That is funny right there!
Seriously why is it so hard for people to except change. I for one agree with most of the copyright/patent/trademark discussions here, but here is a great lesson for us all. "When you fail to embrace change you become fearful of it." let none of us lose see of the changing world around us. This principal gets this.
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Etch, 8 Apr 2009 @ 5:18am

I'd like to meet this forward thinking principle!
We need more people who can actually think progressively, and responsibly, instead of: "Shit, my students misbehavior is caught on tape, and now there is a media shitstorm coming to my desk, all because of youtube!".
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Rob R., 8 Apr 2009 @ 5:54am

About time!
It's seriously about time that personal responsibility is back. Blaming everything but the offender is nothing more than a cop out. Glad to see that someone is taking a common sense approach.

Well done, Dan and Matt!
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Apr 2009 @ 6:19am

Re: I'd like to meet this forward thinking principle!
It *all* comes back down to responsibility. Everyone wants their cake and eat it too when it comes to life. Just goes to show how many elected officials (and that includes Sheriffs remember) and school principals worry about how they *appear* rather than doing a good job if sentiment like that expressed in the submitted article is rare. It should be a god damn requirement to have the kind of mentality these two apparently possess in order to have those kinds of jobs (eg the ones where policy is made).
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Anonymous, 8 Apr 2009 @ 6:24am

Mobile phones?
It's a wise decision to catch those taking such actions and then showing them on Youtube, it's also a good lesson about privacy (even though it's an extreme case) BUT

Mobile Phones?!!

I was under the impression that mobile phones were not used because of radiation etc. in a closed area full of kids, that is for the danger they carry. Now someone says they "encourage" such technology?!
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Apr 2009 @ 6:40am

Re: Mobile phones?
Are you a troll or mentally retarded?
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mike42 (profile), 8 Apr 2009 @ 6:42am

Re: Mobile phones?
Seriously? I guess you believe that microwave ovens cause radioactive isotopes to form, sitting too close to the TV makes your eyes go bad, and (my favorite) eating corn gives you large breasts. (That one courtesy of a Japanese tabloid)

Well, don't worry, all the kids will be wearing their hats made out of silver paper, which is good because it also keeps the government from reading their minds AND keeps the aliens from controlling them.
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Dave, 8 Apr 2009 @ 8:34am

Just wait...
While the school has shown good sense in this matter... I'm sure the parents of one of the little snowflakes caught fighting will undoubtedly sue for invasion of privacy or something and will see YouTube with the most $$$ and go after them.
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David Title, 8 Apr 2009 @ 2:19pm

Big Brother, et. al.
While it's encouraging to see some school officials not over-reacting to a video on YouTube this part of his quote was kind of chilling:

"This should remind our students that they're not going to get away with anything. If you try something like this, you're going to be seen on a security camera or on someone's cell phone...."

In other words, Big Brother is watching AND he might be YOU!
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another mike, 8 Apr 2009 @ 4:54pm

motorola senior high school
That's where I went to school, Motorola Senior High. Admittedly they were Deltacs and Startacs; FSM I'm old.

Anyway, the school's rule was electronics put away during class. But I had a teacher that didn't care. His reasoning was that the course material was really dense so using technology to help take notes was fine. And if you'd rather play games with it, that will show up in your grades.
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Dan, 9 Apr 2009 @ 1:31am

RE: Big Brother
Big brother is watching what little brother has taken pictures of and posted on You Tube. The point is that little brother is actively taking pictures and big brother is passively browsing the posts, put up on the web for all to see after all. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
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Adam_v1, 9 Apr 2009 @ 1:10pm

Re: Common sense...
And i have the perfect picture for this...

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd146/Adambv1/Demotivators/1234939876981.jpg
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asdfgf, 13 Apr 2009 @ 1:19pm

sgfsdfgsfd
fdgfdgd
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