Feature
August
11
Drawing the “Friend” Line on Facebook
by Terry Trahan, Jr.
As summer vacation ends, Facebook is at the center of controversy once again among several U.S. education systems.
This time, the issue is whether or not teachers and students should be allowed to communicate privately via social networking sites like Facebook.
The state of Missouri says no, and other schools across the nation agree.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signed SB54, a bill that makes it illegal for teachers to “friend” students on these sites.
The signing of the bill also created the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, which monitors students’ allegations of sexual misconduct by teachers and other school employees. If a student files a report, the school must notify authorities with the Office of the Child Advocate within 24 hours.
As a high school junior, Hestir alleged that social networking led to an improper sexual relationship with one of her teachers. Lawmakers wrote SB54 to address this behavior, and to raise awareness for other issues that arise when educators and students engage in private forums online.
“Teachers cannot establish, maintain or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child’s legal custodian, physical custodian or legal guardian,” the bill reads. “Teachers also cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student. Former student is defined as any person who was at one time a student at the school at which the teacher is employed and who is 18 years of age or less and who has not graduated.”
James Reiss, principal at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, said the issue has come up in administrative meetings. The high school maintains a policy that discourages communication between its teachers and students on social networking sites.
“We can’t tell them if they can have a Facebook page, but if they talk negatively about another student, there will be consequences,” Reiss said. “The same goes for teachers.”
The policy extends to a teacher’s interaction with students who have graduated. The concern is that use of social networking sites has the potential to damage the school’s image. Also, student-teacher interaction carries the risk of educators knowing too much about the individuals who sit in their classrooms, Reiss said.
Because Facebook is a public forum, “friends” of posters on social networking sites can view strings of comments and replies. While others have used these tools to reconnect with long-lost family and friends and, in more extreme cases, to locate missing individuals following a natural disaster, posts sometimes reveal personal details that require action.
If a student hints at abuse or neglect on social networking sites, teachers who are “friends” of that student have access to those posts and must cross the line that divides their Facebook profile from their role as professional educators.
“If a faculty member knows, they are obligated by law to inform the authorities,” Reiss said. “With social networking, they know things they didn’t need to know.”
Some private schools also take disciplinary action if the administration learns that a group of students participated in school-banned activities, such as drinking and smoking at parties and other social events. Again, these schools require teachers to report these activities, even if the teachers discovered them on Facebook.
Public schools have also begun to implement social networking policies. Julie Bernard, an English teacher at Terrebonne High School in Houma, said the school prohibits teacher-student communication on social sites. And that’s all right by her.
“As an authority figure in my students’ lives, I must maintain a ‘business-like’ rapport with my students,” Bernard said. “I communicate with them only in person at school and school functions. If I need to contact them out of school, it must be through their parents. When students ask to be friends, I simply say that it is against school board policy and that we will have to wait until after they graduate to become Facebook friends.”
As lawmakers and school officials work to draw a permanent line in the sand, one thing remains certain—social networking isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And both educators and students will participate in the ongoing online conversation as long as their “friends” have something to talk about.
