Students Interest in Witchcraft Leads to Controversial 'Net Policy

Staff -- School Library Journal, 7/1/1998

A high school in rural Wisconsin has adopted an Internet-use policy forbidding students from accessing "controversial" Web sites. The term, defined very loosely, was made part of the new policy after a student at Winter High School looked up Web sites about Wicca, a nature-centered religion sometimes called witchcraft.

The student, Burklin Nielsen, looked at the sites after school hours, when the library computer lab is open to students and the general public. Nielsen, 15, said a library aide told her to log off the sites, because "the principal said we could only look at Christian-based sites."

Superintendent David Scarpino has denied repeatedly that Nielsen was told she could only look at Christian sites. In an interview with SLJ, he also denied that Nielsen was ever told to log off any sites.

But Nielsen's parents and attorney stand by her story. The attorney, Lucy Dalgliesh, said Winter's policy appears to go too far in restricting student Web use. Schools have the right to impose certain limits on student Internet use -- during class time, for instance. But Winter's policy is far too vague, said Dalgliesh, and could lead to violations of students' First Amendment rights.

"If during study hall and lunch hour, you let kids play solitaire and look up their favorite baseball teams, you've got to let them look up Buddhism and Judaism. You cannot discriminate based on religion," Dalgliesh said.