Web life may draw scrutiny
By Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/02/2006
To his softball buddies, Samson R. Shelton liked to project the image of not just a teacher but a small town scamp.
In a profile on the Web, the Freeburg High School teacher described himself as a line-dancing "pimp" with a girl in every port, whose hobbies include prostitutes and pornography.
Whether it was a joke shared among friends or a genuine self-assessment, Shelton's online writing raised questions after his arrest this weekend on charges of attempted murder of a teenage girl from another school.
It was at odds with the earnest, athletic educator he seemed to be in the real world. In clear hindsight, perhaps, the disparity could have been a warning sign.
Until now, schools have been mostly concerned with policing computer usage on campus.
But a veteran educator said Monday that the episode could jar schools to sleuth more into online behavior of teachers.
"I wouldn't hire him," said William Rebore, chairman of the department of educational leadership at St. Louis University and a former superintendent for the Francis Howell and Valley Park school districts.
"If the person said, 'Oh, that's nothing, it's just a joke,' well, professional people don't joke in that manner, especially when it comes to children."
Rebore said he thinks schools will more commonly ask employees to disclose what they are posting on the Internet.
A job application could ask, "Do you have a Web site? Are you featured in any Web site?" Rebore said. "Certainly, if someone were not honest about that, it could be grounds for termination. It wouldn't surprise me if districts started putting that on an application."
Shelton was hardly the first educator whose candid thoughts, intended for a select few, were exposed to a larger audience. A Boston University journalism instructor was fired last year for comments in a chat room about an "incredibly hot" student.
"A woman student in a class ought to have as her sole points of concern understanding the course, assimilating the subject matter, doing well on the exams or essays," said Robert Zelnick, chairman of the journalism program. "She should not have to worry about a teacher thinking she has a terrific bod."
Zelnick said Shelton's postings are worthy of some concern.
"It's interesting to think what you would have done if you had come across those self descriptions if you had run a search," he said. "When you start making those kinds of comments, it should send up something of a warning flag to superiors and others who may be concerned about your conduct."
Freeburg's school superintendent, Andrew W. Lehman, said the district had neither a policy about off-campus computer use nor any method of checking what has been published.
He said he was not sure whether the district could do anything about such writing because of "freedom of speech and those types of things."
Lehman said he could not speculate how he would have reacted if the material had been brought to his attention before Shelton's arrest.
Robert Malito, superintendent of the Parkway schools, said the safety of children should be the district's priority.
Any prospective teacher should be subjected to intense background checks, he said. "We want our parents to feel comfortable when they give us the privilege of taking care of their son or daughter for number of years."
When he was a candidate to run Parkway schools two years ago, "people were Googling me" about his performance running a district outside Chicago, Malito said.
In the wake of Shelton's arrest, many were wondering why a teacher would write in such coarse terms and expect his words to remain private.
A friend, Tim Davis, said the profile and others like it on the softball team were meant to be jokes, not windows on deeper problems. Davis said his own profile listed his hobby as "getting divorced." Another team member claimed to be the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Body by Bacon."
It was a bunch of friends joking around, he said.
Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in Washington, said: "There is a real sense that when people interact with digital media that it's private." She said, "It feels private. It's you and the computer."
A school system does not necessarily have a responsibility to know about, or act on, such a posting, she said. "The Internet is a big place."
[email protected] 314-340-8337
