Members at a Chicago, Illinois-area school district have decided that student blogs they deem inappropriate may lead to denial of extracurricular student privileges. The Community High School District 128, ironically headquartered in Libertyville, Ill., voted Monday night to amend the codes of conduct at Libertyville and Vernon Hills High Schools to read, “Maintaining or being identified on a blog site which depicts illegal or inappropriate behavior will be considered a violation of this code.”

Nearly four out of five of the district’s 3,200 students, or roughly 2,560 students, participate in after-class athletics, fine arts or extracurricular activities. Each of the district’s students and their parents must sign a written contract stating that they will abide by their respective school’s code of conduct. The revision to the code was without objection, even among a packed auditorium of educators, parents, students and the media.

Except Mary Gramer, whose child attends Libertyville High School, who said, “As parents we have the obligation to police our children while they are on the Internet. It is not necessary that the school board do this also.”

Tom Engstrom, a senior at Libertyville High School, and Jeff Boucher, a senior and student board representative from Vernon Hills High School demonstrated their support for the revision. “The Internet is in the public domain and if used improperly can be potentially dangerous to some,” Engstrom said.

Do children even have First Amendment rights? According to the Supreme Court, they do. If the student posts illegal material, shouldn’t the blogger be arrested or otherwise disciplined? Also, who’s the arbiter of what’s considered “inappropriate”? The principal? The student council?

Ultimately, Ms. Gramer had the right idea: the responsibility of watching, safeguarding and disciplining their children belongs to the parents, not to the school district.