School District Evaluates Social Networking Policy
The West Bend School District addressed the appropriate use of social networking Web sites by employees earlier this week through a new board policy.
The Social Networking Technology policy, which was presented to School Board members for a first reading on Monday, is new territory for the both the public and private sector, according to Valley Elliehausen, administrator of human resources.
Questions about the appropriate use of social networking Web sites — like Facebook or Twitter, for example —have arisen only in the last 18 months, Elliehausen said.
“As the issues became more prevalent, it caused a need to establish a policy,” she said.
The policy is intended to be positive, she said, and clarify for staff how the employee code of conduct and other district policies apply to social networking on the Internet.
“We recognize it’s an avenue to connect with students, which is all employees want to do, but we want them to do it in a way that will be safe, and protect them as well as the district,” Elliehausen said.
Although generally the intent isn’t bad, Elliehausen noted that students who connect with staff via social networking sites may be inadvertently exposed to adult ideas or language that may not be appropriate.
Most Washington County school districts have a policy in place addressing the use of social networking sites — some more comprehensive than others.
A similar policy is in place in the Hartford Union High School district, where staff members are prohibited from communicating with students via non-district approved applications for non-school related purposes, including — but not limited to — social networking sites, personal e-mail accounts, instant messaging, forums and text messaging.
Although social networking hasn’t been a major concern in the Hartford Jt. 1 School District, which serves students in grades kindergarten through eight, district administrator Mark Smits said acceptable use policies are constantly under review to keep current with emerging technologies. In Hartford Jt. 1, social networking Web sites are blocked on the school computer network, as is the case in the Slinger School District.
“We block all social networking Web sites on our school computer network for both teachers and students,” said Slinger Superintendent Bob Reynolds. “We encourage the use of teacher Web pages for educational purposes such as home work assignments test schedules, etc.”
Couple of ancillary points before I get into the meat… First, the reporter would do herself a favor by stating what the proposed policy is up front. Instead, the reader is left to derive it through a comparison with Hartford’s policy. Second, it’s about time. My company took this up three or four years ago. It’s hardly a new phenomenon and it’s a little sad that it took this long considering we’re talking about kids.
To the point… I agree with a policy to prohibit teachers communicating with students outside of district-approved methods. The district provides an online presence and email to all of the teachers, so there’s no reason for them to interact with kids outside of those avenues. The relationship between a teacher and a student should be a professional one. Sure, it can have warmth and friendliness like any professional relationship, but is should always remain professional. Teachers are not friends. They are educators and should be respected as such. Frankly, I think it’s a bit creepy for grown men and women to friend teenagers and adolescents.
I agree with the “creepy” statement. I am not even FB friends with my own 12-year-old grandson.
Posted by GAMazy on October 14, 2010 at 2042 hrs
“The district provides an online presence and email to all of the teachers, so there’s no reason for them to interact with kids outside of those avenues.”
To take your statement literally, all the phone calls I made to students in the past from my home between 5:00 and 8:00 at night discussing late homework, how to write a paper or how to prepare for an evaluation - there was no reason to interact with students outside of those avenues! Same with bumping into a student outside school hours at a store or restaurant - Avoid the student like an outcast. (Sarcasm:) Thank you: I appreciate your support for reducing the working hours for teachers!
Seriously, would you be OK with the phone call to the child about homework, the evaluation, or the paper/project? By calling a student about school work or discipline issues, I found the student then efficiently got the message, the issue was resolved, the middle man (mom/dad) wasn’t burdened, the (adult) responsibility was placed with the student (not mom/dad), and student performance improved because s/he understood I wanted him or her to perform his or her best. In short: Emailing a student is a great tool, but it has limitations.
“Creepy?” The insinuations of the word are uncalled for and based on hysteria due to less than 0.0000000000001% of social networking events. Also consider when an idiot uses facebook in an illegal or unethical way, screen captures and other electronic records of his or her actions provide solid State evidence for the prosecuting attorney. “Fickle” or “shallow” is more appropriate for much of social networking’s “friending”, but using the word “associating” wouldn’t sell as well the technology and ad space.
You failed to mention that this social networking policy applies to (future) school board members too.
Social networking policies will evolve; this technology won’t stop evolving.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 14, 2010 at 2226 hrs
BS. Social networking is precisely for that - social networking. Calling a student regarding classwork or running into them around town is not the same as sharing your personal life with a student via social media. Also remember that a great many people on sites like Facebook allow friends of friends to see their stuff, so when a teacher friends a student, they are potentially opening up the content of hundreds of other Facebook users’ content over which the teacher has no control.
It’s just a bad idea. Be a professional. These are your students - not your friends. Act like it.
Posted by Owen on October 14, 2010 at 2245 hrs
Could have said it better myself, O. Strongly agree.
The open door of permission occurs when social media such as texting and FB’ing are allowed between minors and the professionals who teach them. Student/teacher relationships are just that. Really. They’re not BFFs.
Posted by GAMazy on October 15, 2010 at 0601 hrs
sorry…. “couldn’t”
(getting my coffee now)
Posted by GAMazy on October 15, 2010 at 0602 hrs
How about all Professionals (Teachers like to put themselves in that group) go that route.
Wouldn’t it be great to get a Facebook message from your Doctor??
How about a tweet from your Attorney??
We could even have our Accountants on Myspace!!Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 15, 2010 at 0911 hrs
I saw this re-posted over on Blogging Blue, I responded to what I saw over there without checking here. Now I see you came to pretty much the same conclusions I did.
Creepy indeed. There are tons of creepy teachers. I personally know of many instances were teachers have crossed lines into areas of non-professional conduct.
So do we all.
Some make the News, some only get circulated among the “students who know”, or the teacher’s lounge, the administrators and a select group pf parents, etc.
Bad and borderline conduct happens in schools ALL the time. Setting boundaries that intent to lessen the venues for Bad Conduct is good for all.
Administrators and School Boards actively sit on and downplay “events” because they see their JobOne as avoiding lawsuits.
No Teacher needs to use Facebook. You do not. You are not Michelle Pfieffer in Dangerous Minds. Stifle.Pay a little more attention to the conduct of your colleagues, you need to lose that indignant, uppity “we are saints” tone of voice. Bad teachers scar kids for life!!!
And in these days when news of Priest abuse and the rug-sweeping of the Vatican is constantly under our noses, how naive are we all to not want to admit this and other negative kinds of behavior can happen in any institution where large groups of children are found? The correct response is not to just bitch at the news, but to work to be a little pro-active were our children are concerned.
Shitty teachers are like dandelions. I’ve known way too many as a kid myself, and waaay too many as a parent.
How is it “Liberal” to sweep that crap under the rug?
It isn’t.Posted by Annie K. on October 15, 2010 at 0956 hrs
There are internal methods for communicating with students. Why the use of facebook? I am and have been in the IT field for decades and my 20yr old has a facebook but I don’t. Why? because I am in the security side of IT and see no reason to be. I also fought the pager/blackberry/ laptop card move and will continue to. Why? because I don’t need or want to be that connected. I use the old theory of putting someone alone in the woods with nothing but their wits and a knife and can separate the men and women from the children. Many people, my oldest included would not survive a day intact in the woods by themselves. They, meaning their inner thoughts and feelings scare them. They are lost without the network. I, having a psych background, firmly believe that it is a disorder. The inability to be alone scare me for the race(human) because that inability removes internal drive, motivation, and morals. the idea that connectivity and voyerism is the end all, be all is a scary thing. I brought this up to a lib friend of mine and she cannot wrap her brain around it. External validation and stimulation is all that people are knowing and it will spell the downfall of our society. Why, you may ask? The reason is that there are times where a human is required by circumstance to exist in an alone state. what defines us and our behavior is how we act in that alone time. No one watching, validating our work or mere existance, no one out there to support, defend, or substantiate our position and sometime reason for living.
The connectivity and shunning of time alone with nothing but nature and our thoughts scare me. The concept of the human as a social animal has been taken to a level of dependancy rather than a tendancy.
Posted by fishaddict on October 15, 2010 at 1005 hrs
Mr. Robinson, Just to be clear, regarding the use of 2nd person “your”: I friend no students. You are accurate in pointing out the dangers of Facebook public exposure. This is where the problem lies with teachers friend-ing students. It’s not the “creep” factor that’s an issue. It’s mainly USA Puritan ideas about teachers and alcohol – Pictures, video, discussions, and maybe a bachelor(ette) party – that are the bulk of the concerns. I took your editorial to town just to be clear about your initially wide position. Do read the final version of the policy. Perhaps you will see the red flags that I do, and then some.
AnnieK., if your detector skills are as good as you say they are, become a cop. You’d save a lot of grief.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 15, 2010 at 1159 hrs
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Posted by restaurant basel on October 25, 2010 at 0429 hrs
It is through this process of “building social authority” that social media becomes effective. That is why one of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the “conversation” in the hopes that you can become a relevant influence in that conversation.
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