Should Facebook link a teacher and student?
August 25, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
SALISBURY — In late July, a 21-year-old Snow Hill substitute teacher was charged after police say he committed sex offenses against a minor he first met while teaching.
Teachers engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior have dotted news headlines in recent years. However, the way Russell Keith Barbely Jr. allegedly fostered a relationship with his former student — a trial is pending in his case — has caught the eyes of lawmakers.
In late July, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54 into law, prohibiting social networking between students and teachers.
Specifically, the new law says school districts need to institute policies for the “appropriate use of electronic media, such as text messaging and Internet sites, for both instructional and personal purposes.” Teachers are barred from having exclusive access online to current students or former students who are minors. That means communication through Facebook or other social networking sites must be done in public, not shielded by privacy tools the sites offer to users.
The legislation was motivated, in part, by an Associated Press investigation that 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.
The Missouri Teacher’s Union has since challenged the law, saying it violates their First Amendment rights to free speech and free association.
The state of Maryland does not prohibit teachers and students from being friends on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or any other social networking website.
“It’s an interesting First Amendment question,” said Delegate Mike McDermott, R-38B-Worcester. “Every time there is a new social medium, it seems like people who are predatory toward young people tend to take advantage.”
McDermott said he doesn’t know if a law should be passed on the state level in Maryland, but said the Legislature could study the issue and possibly make a recommendation to local school boards to look at their policies.
Facebook and Twitter are different from teachers using email to communicate with students because email can generally be monitored by the school system. Personal online accounts, such as Facebook, are not within the regulatory powers of school administrators, thus any communications between a student and a teacher are beyond the eyes of school disciplinarians and, often, parents.
The National Middle School Association has taken up the topic on its Facebook page, garnering about 100 responses on all sides of the issue.
“I do not friend students on Facebook. I do not want to blur the line between teacher and friend,” posted Nate Merrill on the Facebook discussion page. “Honestly, as much as I like my students, I also do not want to know all the teen gossip and nitty-gritty.”
Another post by Kristen Golden said it may be OK as long as the students know where to draw the line.
“As of right now, I have two teachers and my graduation coach on my Facebook,” wrote Golden. “I think it’s a thing of standards and personal preference. And teachers should only accept requests from students if they know they’re responsible students who wouldn’t cross the line.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
