In a controversial effort to thwart bullying and other problems, a school district in California is monitoring social media posts made by its 14,000 middle and high school students.

The Glendale Unified School District is paying a company called Geo Listening to comb through students’ posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media networks, looking for posts that seem to bully, express suicidal thoughts or confess some sort of wrongdoing. Geo Listening also will be checking for profanity. It’ll notify the district should it run across anything alarming or suspicious.

Many students take a dim view of the district’s intrusion into their social media space.

“We all know social media is not a private place, not really a safe place,” says Young Cho, 16, “but it’s not the same as being in school. It’s students’ expression of their own thoughts and feelings to their friends. For the school to intrude in that area…I understand they can do it, but I don’t think it’s right.”

District officials seem to be pleased with the $40,500 program thus far. “We think it’s been working very well,” says District Superintendent Dick Sheehan. “It’s designed around student safety and making sure kids are protected.” (Associated Press)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.