Facebook: New Law Bans Teachers from ‘Friending’ Students
August 3, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
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Missouri is the first state in the country to place such strict limits on Facebook communication. Other states and school districts have only recently formed guidelines and policies on student-teacher online interaction.
The law requires Missouri school districts to report allegations of sexual abuse to authorities within 24 hours, and holds those districts liable if they fail to disclose suspected or known abuse by past employees, according to a report on Fox News.
Several Missouri teachers are uneasy about the new regulations.
“Throwing the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to social networking is bad policy,” said Todd Fuller, spokesman for the Missouri State Teachers Association, which represents 44,000 members statewide. “There’s so much gray area in this bill that it’s difficult for us to define them.
“What happens if I use a third-party website to communicate with students?” Fuller said, imitating an educator. “That’s not public. There are lots of elements beyond Facebook that are part of social networking that I don’t think this bill takes into account.”
State Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, sponsor of the bill, told FoxNews.com that the social networking provision bans solely “exclusive access” between a student and a teacher.
“We are in no way trying to stop communication between educators and students,” Cunningham said Monday. “We are allowing school districts to form their own policy with this and to police themselves. The social media aspect comes in because we’re finding that it’s an early pathway to sexual misconduct.”
The majority of the legislation, which was approved unanimously by the state’s Senate on April 7, will take effect on Aug. 28 – just in time for the new school year.
