Teachers protest social media crackdown

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Saturday, August 6, 2011

COLUMBIA (AP) — As they prepare lesson plans for fall, teachers across Missouri have an extra chore before the new school year begins: purging their Facebook friend lists to comply with a new state law that limits their contact with students on social networks.

The law was proposed after an Associated Press investigation found 87 Missouri teachers had lost their licenses between 2001 and 2005 because of sexual misconduct, some of which involved exchanging explicit online messages with students.

But many teachers are protesting the new restrictions, complaining the law will hurt their ability to keep in touch with students, whether for classroom purposes, personal problems or even emergencies.

The new law forbids teachers from having “exclusive access” online with current students or former students who remain minors, meaning any contact on Facebook or other sites must be done in public rather than through private messages.

Lucinda Lawson, an English teacher at Hartville High School in southern Missouri, expects to purge nearly 80 current and former students from her Facebook account, and she worries that doing so could leave some students vulnerable.

Private messages give “truly supportive teachers the chance to get help for them when they’re in dangerous or compromising situations,” Lawson said.

Lawson once called a state child-abuse hotline after a private online conversation revealed dangerous drug use by a student’s adult family member. She encouraged a pregnant teen to remain in school and helped the girl tell her parents. Another student confided that his attendance woes and classroom struggles were caused by the financial and emotional stress of caring for a mentally ill parent.

Lawson has no qualms with other provisions in the law to monitor teachers accused of sexual misconduct, such as conducting annual criminal background checks and requiring districts to share information about employees who are fired or resign in sex-abuse cases.

Still, she says, teachers often use Facebook and other online forums for legitimate educational purposes — and to help students with personal troubles they might not be willing to discuss in more public settings.

In Joplin, where 160 people died and hundreds more were injured by a historic tornado in May, several teachers relied on Facebook to track down missing students in the storm’s immediate aftermath.

“I am not a pervert and don’t wish to be treated as one,” Joplin middle school teacher Alana Maddock wrote in an email to Gov. Jay Nixon in June, not long before he signed the legislation. “I am very responsible with my Facebook pages and don’t appreciate being assumed to be a danger to my students.”

The law, which takes effect Aug. 28, does not outright prohibit teachers from interacting with students on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other sites. Instead, it requires local school districts to create written policies by January that outline “appropriate use of electronic media such as text messaging and Internet sites for both instructional and personal purposes.”

It will be up to individual districts to define “exclusive access,” but in general the law holds that any contact must be made in the public sphere rather than through private messages. So teachers can set up public Facebook pages or Twitter accounts but can’t reach out to their students as friends or followers, or vice versa.

State Sen. Jane Cunningham, who sponsored the proposal, said many educators who have spoken against the new rules misunderstand them. The legislation had backing from education lobbyists and organized teacher groups and enjoyed unanimous support from lawmakers.

“Any teacher who is really working hard with a student privately would want to have a parent or administrator know how hard they’re working,” said Cunningham, a Republican from suburban St. Louis. “The only problem is if there’s something they want to hide.”

Despite its earlier support for the measure, the Missouri State Teachers Association now says it plans to seek changes when legislators return to the Capitol in January.

“The problem is the bill is so vague,” said Todd Fuller, a spokesman for the statewide teachers’ group. “There is a lot of interpretation left up to a local school district.”

Many school districts already have such policies in place, and individual teachers have their own internal guidelines, Fuller added.

Nate Smith, a debate coach and history teacher at Lee’s Summit High School near Kansas City, said he already declines students’ Facebook friend requests to maintain personal and professional distance. He worries that some overzealous districts will go even further than the limits spelled out in the new law.

“You’ll have a lot of school districts that will ban all forms of social media communication with students,” he said. “There could be some really good educational opportunities lost.”

In Hartville, Lawson isn’t the only member of her household who needs to amend her Facebook settings. Her husband is also a teacher, and their 14-year-old daughter, Olivia, relied on Facebook to communicate with her English teacher to discuss school projects.

Olivia Lawson said she spends several hours a day on Facebook. And like her mother, she recalls examples of friends and classmates who shared concerns with teachers online that they would not dare discuss in person.

“In person, there’s always the chance of someone else hearing you,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t really want your friends to know what you’re talking about with a teacher.”

More like this story

connor 1 year, 9 months ago

87 teachers lost their jobs due to SEXUAL Misconduct in four years? I would bet that 90% of them were female teachers too. With numbers like that I am surprised there isn't a "Protection against teachers act" with automatic jail time and no trial when any underage student reports misconduct.

In short welcome to the party girls!!!!

connor 1 year, 9 months ago

I would be willing to lay a wager that 90% of the teachers fired for sexual misconduct from 2005 to 2009 in Missouri were female, yes.

Maybe if I feel upto it later I will do some research and see if my theory can be verified.

connor 1 year, 9 months ago

Just doing a bit of research I would lose the bet but there is alot of wiggle room. Seems there are about twice as many men charged with sexual misconduct as women in education. However what was interesting was that a number of the men were not teachers but bus drivers and such and that their charges were for things like child prn and endangerment while actual teachers with outright oral and sexual contact (Like that Penn woman) were usually women. Still I was wrong on my percentage guess.

wow 1 year, 9 months ago

BS...once a student leaves the K thru 12 classroom, there is no need for a teacher and student to be conversing on FACEBOOK, SKYPE, WEBCAM, E-MAIL, FACE TO FACE. I'm sure emergencies happen, but in those cases the parents needs to know what's going on and in order TO PROTECT THE STUDENT AND TEACHER, parents should be monitoring the conversation/interaction. I understand the teen thing...heck I've got one of my own, but HIM/HER Facebooking with teenage friends is bothersome enough. Him/her doing it with a strange adult is all together different and asking for trouble. Especially since up until a short while ago....information on teachers who had been convicted and or accused of crimes against students and or other people was not shared with other schools, school districts or the public.

As for discussing personal problems...well we all know those will occur and we need to do everything possible to protect the students. But if a teacher is made aware of or suspects a child is in trouble, they are mandatory reporters and therefore obligated by law to report the matter to the proper authorities. That does not mean discussing the issue on Facebook with the troubled teen. Besides counseling or discussing sensitive issues on Facebook isn't smart, because if a hacker can get into Gov't, Law Enforcement, Private Industry sites....what makes Facebook sites impregnable? What teacher want's to have their Facebook account hacked and have a students personal problems revealed and shared with the unintended?

Not every teacher is a Perv....but it's like this. The only people adults should be Facebooking with is...other adults and in some cases kids who are their relatives....and in the case of relatives...that too needs to be monitored by the parents.....hey it ain't news........"everyone" has at least one nut case in the family. I'm not being mean, I'm just keeping it real.

To all the good teachers out there, keep up the good work and thanks for all you do.

John 1 year, 9 months ago

Once a student leaves the K thru 12 classroom they are generally classified as adults and may contact whomever they want. . . . .

kamihiv 1 year, 9 months ago

I think wow's first sentence was merely poorly written as to convey meaning rather than implying how it reads, John.

I THINK he meant that once a student leaves the classroom there is no need to have private communication with a teacher. I don't think he was intending to say that once a student has left school and graduated that they shouldn't do this as well...though admittedly that is how I read it at first too.

MommaR 1 year, 9 months ago

How did teachers communicate with their students before social media? I will not allow my teenager to have a facebook account, twitter or a cell phone, too many mean people out there...won't let me say n--t or i----s....lol

momof3 1 year, 9 months ago

I for one DO NOT like this law.....as the mother of a senior in high school I have seen how beneficial the use facebook can be.....last winter when we had all the snow her high school was in the middle of preparing a play...the instructor was able to use facebook to cancel or call on last minute practices. I am a friend with all of the teachers that my daughter is and find NOTHING wrong with her being friends with them. I have talked with one of the teachers and told him that I didn't not have a problem with him being her friend and the way I understand the law is that as long as the parent is also a friend of the teachers it is ok for the teacher to friends with the student.........like I said...I DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS LAW!!!

JCMOYouthWatch 1 year, 9 months ago

set the boundaries right up front and students will know what to expect. We can hide our heads in the sand and pretend social media doesn’t exist (block it all!)… Or we can use it as a learning opportunity to teach our students what it means to be good digital citizens engaged in actively building a personal learning network that will benefit them well beyond the classroom walls. Of course, unless we figure out how to do that ourselves, it will be hard to help our students figure it out as well.

JCLifer 1 year, 9 months ago

Why not just make a law that it is illegal for teachers to have sexual relations with students? Blaming Facebook for teacher misconduct is silly. Using this logic, they might as well pass a law that teachers cannot drive cars, because they might use their cars to go someplace they shouldn't go, or do something they shouldn't do.

Stupid legislators and governor. The state has huge problems all over, and instead of addressing the declining economy, lack of jobs, kids not learning in schools, crumbling roads and highways, very high unemployment, etc., they want to go on a rampage against Facebook, probably something they know nothing about.

kamihiv 1 year, 9 months ago

As far as I can tell there hasn't been much of a need, outside rising technology sectors, for more laws regardless.

If our government enforced the laws on the books we wouldn't have to waste so much money as it is. Ex: In the 80's they passed a multitude of laws concerning female assaults and violence. However, the laws had no effect on the crime rates.

But I spose I'm being silly. The bureaucracy must expand to meet the ever expanding needs of the bureaucracy!

muleman 1 year, 9 months ago

For everyones information, I have kept in touch with a teacher tha I had in highschool, nothing sexual at all. We have become best friends over the years and I still look to him for advice. Our comunication was by phone and U.S. mail before there ever was an internet. All teacher student relations do not involve sex. He is the father I never had

wow 1 year, 9 months ago

Clarification on my earlier comment. I meant to say...that "during the K thru 12 school years, the teacher and student should only be conversing in the classroom or school, not on FACEBOOK, SKYPE, WEBCAM, or E-MAIL. I'm sure emergencies happen, but in those cases the parents needs to know what's going on and in order TO PROTECT THE STUDENT AND TEACHER, parents should be monitoring the emergency conversation/interaction". Unless the teacher is the K-thru 12 kids/students parent, then the interaction between the teacher and the student should be school related and done so in the classroom or at the school related event. We don't need another law...but the educational community, teachers, parents and students do need to be making sure teacher student relations are academically related and in the case of emergency situations....the proper law enforcement, social services or parents are notified as soon as a problem is suspected and or discovered. Doing this helps protect the teacher and the student.

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