Kutztown Area High School

Kutztown Area High School
Address
50 Trexler Avenue
Kutztown, Pennsylvania, (Berks County) 19530
United States
Information
Type Public
Established 1938
Principal Barry Flicker
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 451 (2014–2015 school year)
 • Grade 9 112
 • Grade 10 117
 • Grade 11 106
 • Grade 12 116
Color(s) Navy blue and White
        
Slogan Learning to create the world of the future
Athletics Approx. 25 Varsity sports
Mascot Cougars
Rival Brandywine Heights High School
Fleetwood Area High School
Website http://www.kasd.org

Kutztown Area High School is a small rural high school and is the only high school of the Kutztown Area School District, located at 50 Trexler Avenue in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, USA. Kutztown is sandwiched between Allentown and Reading in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. It was built in 1961, with an annex added in 1974, and has not since been remodeled or rebuilt. Also, as part of the "one-to-one laptop initiative" every student has received an Apple MacBook Air. The school has numerous sports teams and clubs/activities in which they rival Berks County schools: Fleetwod and Brandywine. The school is infamous for a notorious group of thirteen students who violated its technology code of conduct and were subjected to external disciplinary action. In the past year the school started a pilot program where students who are enrolled in a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) are manufacturing parts for a company that produces ballistic targets. The students are welding the stock pieces to produce the sub assemblies that are sent back to the company to be painted and delivered to the customers. The full program is slated to go into effect for the 2014–2015 school year.

The Kutztown 13

In October 2004, the school distributed Apple iBook laptops to all students, as part of the "One-to-One" program[1] to facilitate school work. Each computer was installed with safety instruments. Access to the safety and monitor settings was available via the use of an administrator password.

The school administrators initially set the administrator password on all laptops to "50Trexler", presumably in reference to the street address of the school. Multiple media reports indicated that the password was "taped onto the back of each computer" when they were initially handed out. What was actually on the back was a permanently affixed label with the school’s address, although the Kutztown Area High School Administration did realize that the password should have been less obvious. A student or students found out the password, and eventually 200 to 300 students had knowledge of the password.

These students were then able to bypass the schools security system to access chat software, freely view web pages previously blocked by school policy, install file sharing applications, games, and other unauthorized software, and reverse the installed monitoring software to spy on other students and faculty. The school repeatedly disciplined students for these offenses, from detentions and leading to suspensions for repeated policy violations. With each disciplinary action given, the school claimed that parents were notified.

On May 2, 2005, school administrators contacted the Kutztown Borough Police Department with a request to investigate, and possibly prosecute, 13 students for violating the school's Acceptable Use Policy after they repeatedly modified their laptops. The parents of the students were not notified of this criminal investigation because the school was afraid the parents would not be pleased that pictures were being taken of the students, through the computers, at home. Much of the information released to the media was from the uncle of one of the 13 students and based on comments by the students. Pennsylvania law prohibits a school from discussing discipline cases, as such a high degree of one-sidedness exists on what actually prompted the school to take the action it took,

On May 31, 2005 the police notified[2] the parents of 13 students that their children were being charged under Pennsylvania crimes code section 7615 for Computer trespass, a 3rd degree felony according to Pennsylvania law.[3]

In late August 2005, the Berks County juvenile probation office offered to drop all charges in exchange for 15 hours of community service, a letter of apology, a class on personal responsibility and a limited probation period. One student did not accept these conditions. He was later emancipated of all charges.[4]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 12, 2005. Retrieved August 10, 2005.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 7, 2005. Retrieved August 10, 2005.
  4. ↑ Rubinkam, Michael. (2005-08-28) 'Kutztown 13' hackers quietly offered deal. Usatoday.Com. Retrieved on 2016-06-03.

Coordinates: 40°30′48″N 75°46′07″W / 40.5133°N 75.7686°W / 40.5133; -75.7686

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.