Zoom Incidents Today
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Dear Watertown High School Students and Families,
School is underway and I have had the pleasure of visiting many classes over the first three days. Students and teachers have been incredibly engaged, excited, and already tackling the rigorous curriculum we have planned in this remote setting.
I am writing to you because, despite a generally successful first week, today we experienced three incredibly upsetting incidents in two separate classes. An unauthorized person or persons were admitted into classrooms using false names. During their short time in the classrooms, the intruder(s) yelled profanity and a racial slur. This despicable behavior was cut off by the teachers quickly shutting down the Zoom. Further attempts to gain access to the classroom were thwarted through the use of the Zoom waiting room until the perpetrator(s) changed their Zoom name to that of an administrator and gained entry again. During that incident, the perpetrator(s) cursed, but the teacher quickly disabled their access to the class.
It is an understatement to say that these incidents are horrifying. We as a community do not tolerate harassment or racist abuse in our environments, whether in-person or virtual. We aim to celebrate the collection of students and families that make us great and will continue to do so. As such, we must directly denounce this behavior and support students impacted. We will be convening students that were in the affected Zoom classrooms to process with our support staff. The hurt caused by these comments spreads beyond just the classrooms that heard them: when some in our community are hurt, all are affected. We would like to offer every student and family the opportunity to speak to a guidance professional if needed. Please contact your student's guidance counselor if you or your student need support in managing the emotions that these comments surface.
Administrators are working closely with the Watertown Police Department, Watertown Information Technology Services, and Zoom Corporate to try to identify the person or persons responsible. As this is a major violation of our code of conduct, consequences will be significant. We will also be delivering consequences for any use of hate speech within our community, and emphasizing to our students that this is a non-negotiable.
Moving forward, we have taken the following steps to improve our Zoom classroom security:
Zoom Links will be removed from Weekly Learning Plans and will be stored in a student's google classroom that requires a passcode.
District-wide, students will no longer be able to change their name in Zoom. The name they enter the room with will be the same as their WPS email.
Entry to a classroom may be delayed as teachers closely monitor the waiting room.
Users are not permitted into a Zoom unless they are signed into their Watertown Public School email account. The technology department is working on a screenshot tutorial of how to ensure your student is logged in. The vast majority of students have already been doing this, but for the few who remain, we will get you up to speed.
In times like these we are faced with the question of letting evil prevail or choosing to drown out these voices with love and progress. Watertown High School will choose to make our collective voices heard, ensuring that this community is welcoming to all.