Students can be suspended for a lot of odd reasons these days â?? wearing “objectionable” T-shirts, cross-dressing for prom, planning elaborate senior pranks â?? but a principal at a Catholic high school in Sparta, New Jersey, has added another offense to the list: having a blog.

The Reverend Kieran McHugh stunned the 900 students of the private Pope John XXIII Regional High School at a recent assembly when he told them that, effective immediately, they would have to dismantle their personal pages on sites such as MySpace.com and Xanga.com and any other blogs, or face suspension.

McHugh said he was taking the unusual measure to protect students from online sexual predators who may be lurking in cyberspace looking for personal information on children, including their pictures, diaries and gossip, according to a report in New Jersey’s The Daily Record newspaper. [more]