Politics

Halle Berry's Law and is Social Media Monitoring Coming to a School Near You? (Nanny of the Month, 9-13)

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Nanny of the Month turns four-years-old (!) this month, and our nation's busybodies show no signs of slowing down. On this very special episode, Nanny features a city that's determined to take the "party" out of party buses by making them boozeless (police will conduct sting operations to enforce the new ordinance), a new California law–championed by actress and humanitarian Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner–that cracks down on paparazzi who photograph the children of celebrities.

But on this very special episode, the award for nation's busiest body goes to the official who's championing the Next Big Thing among surveillance state-loving school administrators–keeping 24/7 tabs on students' social media activities. The main justification is–what else?–keeping kids safe, and administrators are keeping their eyes peeled for all kinds of possible red flags, including drug use, profanity, bullying, hate speech, sexual harassment, and the use of fake IDs. California's Glendale Unified School district is monitoring 14,000 students, and the company hired to conduct the snooping expects to be keeping tabs on students in 3,000 schools worldwide by the end of the year.

Presenting the September 2013 Nanny of the Month: Glendale schools Supt. Dick Sheehan!

Just under two minutes.

Follow Nanny of the Month on Twitter (@NannyoftheMonth) and submit your nominees for next month!

Nanny of the Month is written and produced by Ted Balaker (@tedbalaker). Research by Matt Edwards (@MattChrisEd). Opening animation by Meredith Bragg.

To watch previous episodes, go here.

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