MO Law Limits Student-Teacher Social Networking
August 2, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
Missouri is pulling the reins on the way teachers and students communicate on the internet.
A new law will limit private discussions on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
“When we are at a ball game or events like that we will tweet information from that so that gets it to a large audience in a short amount of time,” said Central High School’s Assistant Principal Rober Sigrit
Facebook and Twitter are often used by school faculty and students to send and receive messages, but starting this January a new law in Missouri will limit how they interact on social media sites.
“It does not outlaw it, but it says the district is going to have some sort of policy in place for it,” said Sigrit.
The new law gives school districts the right to set their own guidelines as to how a faculty or staff member can communicate through social media and email.
But John Schlange with the Missouri teachers Association says the law is too open to interpretation and therefore impossible to enforce.
“Because it does not define what the communication would be. It is up to the individual school district. It also does not define what is private or public it says there must be a policy,” said Schlange.
Right now, the St. Joseph School District does not allow teachers and students to discuss personal matters on social media sites. A teacher also can not share information with a student that portrays sex, nudity, alcohol or drug use. All interaction must be out in the open. No private messages.
Sigrist is a Twitter fanatic who often uses the site to post school events, but he cautions teachers from using it or other sites.
“I have always encouraged teachers not to be friends with students on Facebook. I think Facebook is more of a social outlet. Obviously they can have class pages where there can be good sharing of information,” said Sigrit.
Katie Kimble is a teacher who uses Edmodo, a site similar to Facebook to publish classroom information. She says it is excellent to have open class discussions. And if a student sends her a personal message she can respond openly by posting it on the wall or addressing the issue in class.
“We see them everyday. There is really no need to have that conversation outside of school when it can take place in school,” said Kimble.
Most parents and students we talked with also agree with that private messaging is inappropriate.
“What happens between the child and the teacher should just be on a professional level not on a computer style relationship,” said parent Shelly Hernandez.
