Recently, the Illustrated published a comment by an anonymous Hillside Grade School parent, who requested that individual student names be published along with their photographs.

As principal of Hillside Grade School, I wanted to clarify our practice regarding the publication of school events.

We send the local newspapers photographs and captions of school events often, as we are very proud of the work that our students and staff take part in. However, in order to protect the anonymity of students for their safety, we do not provide individual student names. This measure was recommended by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), after an incident that occurred in an elementary school in the Midwest, in which a primary age student was apprehended from the playground because the perpetrator showed the child a newspaper clipping with their photo and name to develop a familiarity with the child. The perpetrator convinced the child that he had been sent by the parent. You can imagine the rest of the unfortunate details.

Much like the safety practices used with school web sites, I feel that it is necessary to limit the detailed information that we share with the public about the students in our care.

I hope that this will clear up the misunderstanding, and provide some valuable insight to your readers. Karen Ames, Principal, Hillside Grade School

Mrs. Karen Ames

Principal, Hillside Grade School