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School Board Bans "Controversial" Web SitesOn May 18, the Winter (Wis.) School Board instituted a policy that bars Internet users from visiting Web sites containing "controversial materials" during school hours. The draconian restriction, which does not define the term "controversial," directs library staffers to make judgment calls about content. Originally formulated to regulate community access to the joint-use Winter High School computer center after school hours, the policy was written after a public-library staffer ordered Burklin Nielsen, 15, to log off Internet sites about witchcraft, Buddhism, and feminist literature on three separate occasions this year, according to Nielsen's attorney Lucy Dalglish. Dalglish attributes the policy modification to "intimidation" felt by officials after an Associated Press story on the policy and a letter from the school-district attorney advising against the after-class provision. The day after the vote, she added, after-school staffers left when Nielsen came to access a Wiccan site. Posted May 25, 1998. |
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