Personal use of electronic media:
Policy DH
Electronic media includes all forms of social media, such as text messaging, instant messaging, electronic mail (e-mail), Web logs (blogs), electronic forums (chat rooms), video-sharing Web sites (e.g., YouTube), editorial comments posted on the Internet, and social network sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn). Electronic media also includes all forms of telecommunication such as landlines, cell phones, and Web-based applications.

• The employee is prohibited from knowingly communicating with students through a personal social network page; the employee must create a separate social network page (“professional page”) for the purpose of communicating with students. The employee must enable administration and parents to access the employee’s professional page.

The employee does not have a right to privacy with respect to communications with students and parents.

I was discussing this with my wife

If you're talking via professional relationship, it's in the school's best interest to eliminate any perceptions of conflicts of interest. I would prefer to talk in person myself regardless. I'm old fashioned.

Having said that, I have a really bad vibe with the district telling me that I am "prohibited" from associating with students on a social network site.

If it said "no right to privacy on a school email account" I could accept. However.... my son is in my class. Which makes my wife his parent. Which means that according to that statement, I have no right to privacy with respect to communication to my wife!

I don't see that it matters what the intention of the policy is, the question is - should Riudi allow policy to dictate the character of the relationship he has with his students?

I'm thinking about some of the better teachers I had and how that would have affected my education, and I'm not in favor of a CYA policy when the students are the loosers.

I see no benefit in the policy other than the school covering it's ***.

Um, yes? Um - hell yes? The entire job dictates the character of the relationship he has with his students. Teach them this, send them to the administrator's office when they do this, etc etc.



You can be a good teacher, and you can have personal interactions with the kids. However, why does a teacher need privacy to interact with someone else's kid? What is the problem with them having these relationships in the open, if everything is kosher? Why can't this be done from the teacher's professional facebook page, under the scrutiny of the parents?



It's good for everyone. The teachers don't get in trouble, parents know what's going on with their kids, and the school's *** is covered. I see no downside.

Actually, what is the downside, Taskiss? What do you see that would be bad here?

Actually, what is the downside, Taskiss? What do you see that would be bad here?

They weren't as much our friend as they were our mentors.

Of course, those were different times. Perhaps today it would be best if there were no iteraction outside the classroom.

More's the pity.

I've had teachers we could actually talk to, who expressed an interest in us. There was a group of kids when we were in school that did several things together... we were in the same science class, we all joined jr. achievement together, etc. Our science teacher would DO things with us on weekends. Our jr. achievement teacher was the same way, doing the weekly meeting things and then following up through the week in different ways. Shop teachers worked with kids on the weekend on cars and such. We had their home phone numbers, etc. They weren't as much our friend as they were our mentors.

Of course, those were different times. Perhaps today it would be best if there were no interaction outside the classroom.

More's the pity.

I don't see where the policy's posted in this thread would in any way curtail any of those activities.

Personal use of electronic media: all forms of telecommunication such as landlines, cell phones, and Web-based applications. - The employee does not have a right to privacy with respect to communications with students and parents.

I disagree with the underlying assumption here that students would never have anything confidential to discuss with a teacher.

Failure to protect any such privacy (not that everything must be private but that some things may be) could risk more harm to students than it prevents.

I've had teachers we could actually talk to, who expressed an interest in us. There was a group of kids when we were in school that did several things together... we were in the same science class, we all joined jr. achievement together, etc. Our science teacher would DO things with us on weekends. Our jr. achievement teacher was the same way, doing the weekly meeting things and then following up through the week in different ways. Shop teachers worked with kids on the weekend on cars and such. We had their home phone numbers, etc. They weren't as much our friend as they were our mentors.

Of course, those were different times. Perhaps today it would be best if there were no interaction outside the classroom.

More's the pity.

I do.


As a student, what kind of relationship do you have with someone if you have no expectation of privacy? I see students being the loosers here.

Perhaps what I think would be missing has already been missing though and I just didn't know it - if you don't know, you must not have ever been exposed to it.