Florida school district says teacher-student 'friending' is 'inappropriate'
A school district in Florida is advising teachers not to "friend" students on social networking sites, claiming that teacher-student communication through this medium is "inappropriate."
Earlier this week, Lee County school officials issued a list of guidelines to teachers suggesting they don’t correspond with students through sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The guidelines for the 2010-2011 academic year also warned teachers to be careful when using communication to prevent legal or workplace issues that could surface.
"It is inappropriate for employees to communicate, regardless of the reason, with current students enrolled in the district on any public social networking website," the guidelines said.
"This includes becoming 'friends' or allowing students access to personal web pages for communication reasons."
This is the first school district in the state of Florida, possibly even the country, to issue teacher-protocol guidelines for social media.
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10 comments:
I think that would be a great idea here in Wicomico County. One Parkside teacher in particular comes to mind by the name of Ms. Kyle. The majority of her FB friends are students. Her specialty is geting involved in high school drama. I have copied some of her pages as proof.
I agree. A teacher/ student relationship is not friends, but mentor.
I too also agree. I feel that if a student and a teacher needs to communicate that it be strickly about school. Communication should be through the wboe website, parents e-mail, or by calling the parents.
One reason being; when my daughter was in Pittsville Middle school she had a class with an intern student who was learning to become a teacher. Befriended her and several other students(mainly boys). Gave them her myspace information for communication that was not in the appropriate way. My daughter told me some horrible things that was happening to some of the students. This intern who befriended my daughter(who strives for friendship because of her appearance) was wrong for what she did. She was later arrested and charged on sex offence with a minor and was found guilty. To this day my daughter feels guilty that she turned her in and caused her to go to jail and not be with her family. I am there telling my daughter that it is not her fault, that she made that choice for herself.
This is why I agree with rules for teachers on the way they communicate but also we as parents should also teach our children the same on communication. WBOE needs to screen their employees and they don't.
Absolutely agree that teachers should not 'friend' students on social networking sites. I don't friend students or their parents. It is not appropriate or professional.
Talbot County also has guidelines. All staff had to sign a form in the beginning of the year agreeing to the terms which included not friending students, using email as a communication tool etc. I personally think it is great!
There is one certain Wicomico teacher who loves attention, who has over 2 thousand friends. According to one of my kids, many are students. Doesn't sit well with many parents.
Unfortunately school districts need this policy because of the rampant sexual abuse cases we hear about in the news all the time,whether it be male or female teachers.There could be exceptions if a student and teacher know each other personally outside of school (family friend,etc)or are related but otherwise its a good idea not to fraternize.
I am a teacher and I agree with that policy in Florida as well. Your an adult and you don't need students as friends.
808....i'd hate to be in one of your classes, i bet your students love you.......
I would love to argue on how this type of action is discriminatory, but alas todays age has almost made it impossible with all the sex scandals developing at schools. I am good friends with some of my teachers since I come from a small town but I do understand why there would be a very large amount of concern.
And LOL at the reply to 8:08, your students must be so glad to endure your kind heart every day.
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