Missouri Teachers Union Sues Over Social Networking Law
August 21, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
The Missouri State Teachers Association has filed a lawsuit against the state of Missouri, looking to stop enforcement of a new law barring online contact between teachers and students in any forum where the communication can be private.
The paperwork was filed in Columbia on Friday.
Linda Daugherty, the librarian at Northwest High school in Cedar Hill, is one of five named plaintiffs in the suit. She says she has no problem with the goal of keeping kids safe from sexual predators, but she says the unintended consequences far outweigh the benefits.
“It literally ties out hands. It takes us back to where we’re not able to communicate with our students one on one in real time,” she said Friday after the suit was filed.
She points specifically to the use of Google Docs, a document sharing and email site, as one problem with the law. Northwest High uses Google Docs in so many ways, that there is a direct link to it on the school website. All communication between students and teachers there would be illegal if the law takes effect, as scheduled, on August 28.
“I talked to our superintendent today and he’s look at some sort of parental permission kind of document, but even then, that’s going to go into that grey area, and that’s what he’s concerned about and I’m concerned about,” Dougherty said.
There is also a ban on texting, something that is widely used on school field trips and with sports teams as a way to gather everyone quickly.
“Trying to herd a bunch of teenagers into one place sometimes can be a major undertaking,” Dougherty told us. “Not being able to use a cell phone text like they have up to now saying, ‘hi guys, the bus is leaving, let’s go,’ otherwise it’s back to call the parent.”
Parents at the school say it seems like over-legislating in Jefferson City.
“As far as school is concerned, I don’t know of any teachers who do that. Most teachers refuse to friend kids until the day they graduate,” Northwest parent Debbie Bicklein told us after band practice.
“I’m standing here face to face talking with this child. I think I have a greater chance of doing him harm in this place than I do on Facebook.”
The suit is asking the court to stop enforcement of the law based on vagueness and what is termed an unconstitutional infringement on teachers’ freedom of speech.
