By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Christine Dubois’ e-mail to her son’s second-grade teacher never made it Monday.
It was intercepted by the Everett School District’s server and came back with the words "Banned E-mail" in the header.
All of which came as a shock to Dubois, who e-mails her two children’s teachers several times a week for everything from clarifying homework assignments to volunteering for field trips. Many teachers encourage the practice.
It wasn’t what Dubois said but the e-mail provider that she used that caused the message to boomerang back.
The Everett School District has changed its e-mail practices in the wake of several threats sent electronically to individuals and specific schools in recent weeks. The district server will no longer accept e-mail that comes from providers who allow e-mail to be sent through anonymous and untraceable servers.
"Any time we limit communication it is a difficult decision," said Gay Campbell, a school district spokeswoman. "It was a matter of balancing our students’ welfare and anxiety level and their education that was being stolen from them against the needs of people with these providers who depend on them for communication."
The district server will no longer accept e-mail that comes from providers that permit anonymous online communication, district officials said. Often, those accounts are provided for free so there is no billing information about the sender.
"We are targeting the more popular free services which don’t require personal identification," said Ken Toyn, director of technology and information systems for the Everett School District. "…Our goal is to minimize our vulnerability at this point."
The list of providers includes hotmail.com, yahoo.com and juno.com.
Parents using those providers can continue to receive news electronically from the district but can’t send e-mail to the district or, in Dubois’ case, to her children’s teachers.
Dubois pays $10 a month for her service through juno.com. She worries that the new policy could penalize parents who would struggle to pay for e-mail service.
"I don’t want to have to go out to buy another e-mail account just so I can go out and e-mail my students’ teachers, but nowadays e-mail is a vital communication link," Dubois said. "More and more I see teachers relying on
e-mail and encouraging parents to use e-mail to contact them."
To Dubois, the ban on e-mail providers is like a school not taking any more phone calls after getting an untraceable bomb threat by phone.
"It’s like letting criminals inconvenience those of us who are law-abiding citizens and need the e-mail," she said. "I care about kids’ safety but I think there is a better way to protect them than preventing parents with certain e-mail addresses from e-mailing schools."
Campbell said the district will monitor public comments to the e-mail policy, which can be reversed. The district will encourage affected parents to use other means of communication, such as telephone voice mail, she said.
You can call Herald Writer Eric Stevick at 425-339-3446 or send
e-mail to stevick@heraldnet.com.
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