By Marcus Uhe
Cyber security at Alkira Secondary College has been breached in a series of online incidents this year.
During an online whole school assembly on Monday 16 May, a pornographic video was allegedly shown in the middle of an address from acting principal Nalini Naidu.
Year 12 student Isaac van Rhyn was watching when the unwanted interruption occurred.
He said the vision was shown for a few seconds on his screen before a teacher intervened.
“The link (to the assembly) got shut down,” Mr van Rhyn said.
“Two minutes later they came back and pretended nothing happened.”
“I was more worried about (the younger students). Whatever, we’re in Year 12, but there were 12-year-olds who saw it.”
The acting principal apologised to students later in the day.
“During the assembly, an unknown person was able to share a highly inappropriate video,” Ms Naidu wrote in a message posted to students.
“We are investigating how this occurred.
“Something like this is obviously against all the values of respect that our school stands for.
“We understand that this video may have been distressing for you and want to remind you that there are a number of supports available to you including talking to home group teacher or staff in the wellbeing office.”
The Department of Education was notified of the incident.
“We are currently investigating an incident at Alkira Secondary College where an online school assembly was interrupted,” a spokesperson said.
“We are treating this incident seriously and are supporting the school to determine how this occurred.”
Support is currently being offered to any student and staff member who requires it.
But Mr van Rhyn said this was not the first time the school’s online portal had experienced these issues this year.
In late March, the student said an email was circulated among the school community informing them of the death of a staff member, which was incorrect information.
According to Mr van Rhyn, the response from the school included limiting students’ access to the online portal.
“Now we can’t send emails between students or share Google documents,” he said.
“Most of our learning is online and we use our devices to do everything, so it’s a real inhibitor.”
The acting principal was unavailable for comment.
