Help save a public high school's ELGG!

I am the History Department chair at a public high school in New Jersey
who needs some assistance in regards to policy considerations when an academic institution runs ELGG. If I can't find an answer soon we will lose our new ELGG.


Our administration is concerned that students can create communities and exchange materials privately, away from the scrutiny of even the network administrator. We are not up against a team of entrenched stone-age recalcitrants, but rather a fear of being in court trying to explain how the school created an environment for children that cannot be supervised. We all know they will still conspire through Facebook, Myspace and even by texting, nonetheless the concern remains. Even though we cannot police every conversation in every hallway and cafeteria, this is more akin to allowing kids to create a room and lock everyone out of it.

We simply can't be the only people who have confronted this. How do middle schools run ELGG? Are the ELGG communities that run across schools concerned about harassment and abuse in student-created communities. Although this is New Jersey, there must be aggressive lawyers somewhere else in the country.

Is there a technical solution to this?

Please help me save this ELGG, the kids are counting on us!