Sadly, they do these things without looking at how it adversely
> affects faculty and staff and what it may deprive the kids of. On the
> latter, ham radio is a very educational hobby and they shouldn't be
> denying the kids access to information about it.
Who do they need to use school equipment to pursue these hobbies? You do school work on school equipment, you go home and work on your hobbies.
Unfortunately, recent activities and community attituted have forced schools to attack problems with very broad strokes. They institute "zero tolerance" policies against drugs (which causes problems for diabetics -- many schools prohibit them from carrying insulin), sexual harassment (resulting in kindergarteners being suspended for kissing), etc. because they don't have the resources to make case-by-case decisions. It's hard to demand safety at the same time as public school budgets are being cut.
Barry Margolin, snipped-for-privacy@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA
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