IDENTIFYING INFORMANT DUMB AND DANGEROUS

When a school superintendent maintains a policy of revealing the identities
of students who report other students for violating the law, you have to
assume the superintendent really doesn't want to know what is going on in
his schools.

You also have to assume that he doesn't care about the safety of students -
not just those who reveal crimes, but all students.

The parents of a student at Athens Middle School reported that their son
was threatened after his identity was revealed by school officials. The
student had reported that several other students had marijuana at school.

Despite the threat, Athens Superintendent James Irby said he won't change
his policy of telling students who accused them.

One student was expelled for possessing the marijuana.

The parents of the student who told of the marijuana said their son was
promised anonymity by the school principal and police, but the
superintendent revealed their son's identity to the accused students anyway.

That is just plain dumb, not to mention dangerous and unfair.

Irby's prime concern should be to know when students are violating the law.
Under his policy, a student might bring a gun to school and no one would
tell because of fear of retaliation.

Irby should abandon his ill-conceived policy and apologize to the student
who revealed this crime. If he doesn't, the Athens board of education
should see that he gets into another line of work.