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July 21, 2006
MySpace continues to draw controversy
Shorts and a T-shirt. A provacative MySpace profile. School Board controversy. Nope, not a student or even a teacher. This time the controversy swirls around a school board member. BoardBuzz found this article in The Buffalo News, which describes the story in detail.
David "Monu" Iwankow, a former member from West Seneca, NY (near Buffalo), resigned his position in early July after complaints surfaced about his MySpace profile. But Iwankow is not to be deterred. The self-proclaimed advocate for sports and after-school activities has indicated that he may run for the school board again in May. According to the article, he became "the focus of attention a few weeks ago when the district received two letters" about the profile which included "references to drinking, one obscene word and a headline that many considered offensive."
Board President James Asztalos noted, "When something like this happens, it's not a happy day for anybody. Dave Iwankow is not a bad guy. He's a good guy. It's just unfortunate this came about. I told him several times this was not a personal thing," but concedes, "We continuously tell parents to watch their kids, what sites they go to," he said. "We can't tell parents to watch their kids when certain things are put on the Internet that aren't appropriate. I think when you're a School Board member, there's a different standard. Certainly, we don't want to offend people."
The article also points out
The drinking references and the vulgarity were contained in comments some of Iwankow's friends wrote on his MySpace page. The 1999 graduate of West Seneca East High School agrees that the vulgarity was inappropriate. He tried to check the comments on his page frequently to screen out inappropriate messages, he said, but the profanity slipped by during a three-day period when he hadn't checked the page.
Ivankow, who has also been criticized for attending meetings in shorts and a polo shirt in hot weather, defended himself by saying, "It's a volunteer position. I campaigned for it in shorts and a T-shirt, and people voted me in. What's wrong with that?"
Posted July 21, 2006 12:39 PM |
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