At the close of the last school year, teachers, administrators, and many students noticed the absurd emails flooding their county email.

Once students figured out that emails could be sent in bulk, many e-mail correspondences went downhill. In a matter of days, the number of prank emails escalated. Topics of the email’s ranged from disputes over a missing foot to snowflake flatulence and the search for prom dates.

Each student enrolled in Prince George’s county has a gmail account assigned to them. Its purpose is to help the students in their academics, however many take advantage of the privilege and use it for foolishness. If a student does not use their county-issued email correctly, they and their account can be suspended.

English and 11th grade administrator Mrs. Arnita Dew shed some light on the whole situation.

“For the most part we don’t notice it, because we don’t get your email’s,” she said. “What we will do, is when a student notifies us they got an email that was sent to several students, we will act upon them then. We can identify the sender, so we will look at that… I don’t think students know that the administration are aware.”

Many students view the emails as quite humorous, while others think they are just plain annoying.

Senior Terrence Walls does not think they’re a big deal. “ Yeah, I’ve seen all those random emails. I feel that they’re inappropriate, but it’s a student email so it doesn’t really matter what people say. I don’t think students should be disciplined for sending these emails out.” Walls did admit though, that he thinks the emails “still shouldn’t be that inappropriate.”

Although this was a significant event toward the end of the year, not everyone was fully aware. Head of the English department, Mr. William Manion, had heard a few rumors, and expressed his concerns about academic integrity.

“Students should be aware about anything you put online. We’ve had problems here at school because students put something on twitter concerning an essay, and pretty much openly just doing plagiarism” he said.

He continued by identifying some of the issues students face in the ever-changing world of online communication.

“Everyone should know in high school that when you put something online, it’s out there and everyone can see it,” he said.

For many, the questions remain: Should students be more careful about what they’re sending to each other? Or should faculty let the students be?