Wikipedia in an Educational Atmosphere

The following email was sent out to staff here at school and I found it very interesting, enlightening and relieved how the educational system is continuing to crack down on "improper" websites... just like "MySpace" and improper "TEXT" Image Searches. Even though I know it might come to the point where I won't be able to access my blog during working hours, but I can handle that...

This particular filtering did surprise me at first, but I was glad to hear it after reading the entire email. This makes my job easier and allows me to concentrate on my actual job title. I'm not the web gastapo or police so this type of work time (researching "improper" web access) takes away from my actual work that is more pertinent.

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The information below was sent to the Director of Library Services. If you use Wikipedia, please read the information below. Thanks.....have a great weekend!

Just a quick FYI for everyone about www.wikipedia.org which I know many of your teachers and Librarians have used in the past with students.

If you know of teachers or librarians who use this site or plan to use this site, please let them know that it is blocked and will probably remain blocked permanently as the site now contains content (both text and graphics) related to sexual activity that we are required by law to block.
Wikipedia is promoted in many educational circles as both a free forum for input and a good site to use in teaching the validity of information found on the Internet. Unfortunately the change in content, which was picked up by the content filter provider, means this site can no longer be used within the district, and should no longer be promoted as a site for students to use for homework and school assignments.