I need your opinion(s)....

[Skywalker93]

Hey everyone - I need your opinions about something. My wife is a teacher for a small-town school. The Superintendent is also their IT guy.

I feel they have MAJOR privacy/security issues there. None of the users have the power to change their own passwords. Each summer the Superintendent says "What do you want your password to be?" or "I changed your password to...." and he's either got all the passwords written down or he has them memorized.

Quite often, the Superintendent will say "Hey I was in your email looking for such-and-such message" or "I was logged into your computer looking for this file". When they were working over the summer, one teacher needed to run a program on the network, but did not have access to it. He said "Hey why don't you just sign in under So-and-So's name?" The teacher said, "I don't know their password." So the Superintendent says "Oh her password is....."

None of the teachers there feel comfortable using their computers that way. These days, the Superintendent has been doing quite a bit of backstabbing to many people, and kissing up to others. The teachers would keep any and all email correspondence from the Superintendent, so they could fall back on it if he went against his word. Turns out, he would go into THEIR emails and delete any emails that held him liable for anything. Nowadays, the teachers will print out any such messages and keep them in a secure place.

Most of the computers on their network are Macs of some flavor (im not a Mac person, so I won't go into that). One teacher had a meeting with the Superintendent recently, and she told him in advance that she was using her sound recorder on the computer to record their conversation. He was OK with that. He left her room, and she quickly made a copy of the file to an alternate location. She left the room for only a few minutes, and when she returned, her computer actually SHOWED the file being deleted.... but was a rather large file so it was taking quite a while. She frantically pressed CANCEL until the file stopped deleting. She was able to burn it to CD and make several copies of it for safe keeping. The teacher asked if anyone had seen the Superintendent in her room, but nobody had seen him. My wife asked me if there was any way he could remotely do that from his office, and my reply was, "I don't know anything about Macs, but if I can do it on my Windows machine at work, I'm assuming he could do that on a Mac at school."

The Superintendent is known now for playing the Devils' Advocate. He will start an argument between two people or more, telling each of them that the other said or did something to the other person. His credibility is shot, and nobody likes him. I have been asked by my wife and several of her colleagues for advice on "Computer Ethics" and whether or not he could do that. I feel that he has crossed the line several times. Is there any website that would show he is crossing LEGAL boundaries for privacy issues, etc...?

I know that at MY work, even though we are IT, we are not allowed by our HR department to go "hunting" for individuals by looking through their emails or Internet history at random. We're only allowed to do that if there is a major network security issue, and that still requires approval from our VP of Human Resources and almost an act of Congress.

What do you guys think of this? Any and all feedback is appreciated. I just think this guy is a major A$$.

Thanks!

[NooNoo]

If he was in the UK he would be in Jail.... Computer misuse act. You got something like that over there?

[Skywalker93]

I don't know if they've got any sort of laws for this. That's why I'm asking.
I talked with the principal at the school, and she thought that he legally had rights to do that, because it is school property, etc.... but she's never worked for a school district that had these problems. So she's wondering if it's just an ethics issue?

I'd still love to find some sort of law that states what their rights are.

[CCT]

Your wife should just NOT use Email, Search or anything else.

No searches, no answers, no nothing.


No games either.



If she is making up class schedules or training programmes, she should make them, download her specially designed stuff to cd, and erase.

[BOB IROC]

Yes everything done on school's computers and on their network is school property and the superintendent has the right to see it. However, I think purposly deleting and handing out other peoples passwords has to be some sort of violation. I would also think the Superintendent being the IT person has to be some sort of conflict of interest.

[shamus]

I would also think the Superintendent being the IT person has to be some sort of conflict of interest.

Agreed.

[BOB IROC]

Ok, I did a little questioning with my Boss who is the director of technology for the school district I work for. While the Superintendent has the right to see the email, he or she still has to have approval and a damn good reason. Now this may vary from state to state, but in IL I believe they cannot check a teacher's or staff members email or documents/files without approval from the educational committe and school board. Also deleting of emails and files (purposly) that are not your own is illegal (or so I am told).

I am the IT person (one of them at least) at the school I work for and I wouldn't think about checking a persons files, phone records, or email without going through the proper channels.

[MobilePCPhysician]

My personal opinion is the Superintendent is IT savvy. Which he is abusing his power. He needs to be stopped. The school board needs to be informed of his actions. There must be a layer of security, that is definitely missing with him being allowed to do what he does.

[Skywalker93]

Anybody know where I would begin to look for a law about this?

[MobilePCPhysician]

Call and make an appointment with the city prosecutor. If he/she is reluctant to prosecute, then go to the local newspapers.

[NooNoo]

this is a long read, but seems to be in the right area

[Skywalker93]

Wow - yeah, long read. I'll check it out and see what I can come up with. I'm still shocked at how this guy has been operating there. Just blows my mind.