Probe of School Workers’ Access to Porn Sites Urged

A Pasadena parent and an Altadena official on Monday called for an independent investigation of workers who used computers on Pasadena public school campuses to access pornographic Internet sites.

The demand for a probe from Rene Amy and Town Councilman Steve Lamb came three days after Pasadena school officials turned over computer records to Amy. The records showed that pornographic sites were accessed by workers using school computers during a six-month period beginning in July. Some of the sites advertise models who claim to be 18 but in some cases look younger.

“We need to know who was accessing what, when and why,” said Amy, who said the records he received had the names of the users deleted. “This is about the safety of children, not the safety of bureaucrats.”

Amy requested a list of all World Wide Web sites accessed by workers using campus computers last November. He made the request in the wake of revelations that the Pasadena Unified School District had severed its employees’ home Internet access after finding that workers had signed on to more than 100 pornographic sites.

School officials said the records provided to Amy last week did not identify the user passwords because of privacy requirements for employees. In addition, officials say that because passwords are shared, it would be difficult to determine the identities of users.

School officials say the school board plans to implement policies within a few weeks to track Internet use and punish workers who access pornographic sites. State law requires all districts that provide Internet access to have such a policy.