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There have been many stories lately about teachers getting in trouble for what they say on facebook, etc. In general, my belief is that teachers need to vent sometimes, and that's fine. I could not tolerate being with a classroom of kids all day. But what I don;t get is why their profile is either public, or they "friend" students or parents.
Anyway, this article is worth the read, mainly to see the expression on the mom's face when she reads what the teacher wrote...
I have very mixed feelings about this story. On one hand teachers are people and many people vent about their jobs on social media sites without being fired. On the other hand teachers are very influential in the lives of our young students.
In general, I think that school districts and private schools should have clearly defined social media policies for employees and those policies should be evenly enforced. People should know what the rules are before they are subject to the rules. I don't think it's fair to anyone to have policies that are ambiguous, or developed after some embarrassing incident has already occurred.
As far as social media being a good learning tool, our band teacher uses FB quite well. She is not FB friends with any of her students. However, there is a band page that students and parents can join. It's a closed group and the teacher adds members. It allows her to interact with students on FB without having to be "friends" with them. She posts videos that she wants the kids to see, communicates about schedules, etc. It also allows the students and parents to post photos from games and competitions and the kids can have ongoing conversations about band things. Alumni are also allowed to stay members so they post about things they are doing in their college bands and that is inspirational for the kids since so many of them want to go on to join the FSU Marching Chiefs.
So I think that districts need to implement policies regarding social media for both personal and educational use.
My employer has a VERY strictly defined and monitored social media policy, and people have been fired for violating it. We may not discuss or mention ANYthing having to do with work, good or bad. It doesn't matter whether your profile is public or private. Per our policy, if you want to vent online, it better be in a format where your identity and that of your employer is not easily discernable...go completely anonymous.
And, obviously, no "friending" students, and "friending" parents is highly discouraged.
I work for a private company and I cannot imagine "venting" about work stuff on a public forum under my real name. That would be crazy and unprofessional for me to do, and it's crazy and unprofessional for teachers to do, too.
If teachers or nurses or policemen or investment bankers or computer programmers need to "vent" let them come on this forum and do it under a code name.
So I think that districts need to implement policies regarding social media for both personal and educational use.
Oh, for goodness sake. Teachers want to be treated and paid like professionals but they need the district to create a policy forcing them to act like professionals? Please. They should teach these young girls how to act professionally at least in teachers' college if not high school.
Teachers should do what many professionals do: Keep separate personal and "work" FB pages.
If you start a group page and invite students, as the band teacher did, you should start it as your "professional self," so that they can interact with you without seeing every personal detail of your life.
Teachers are people, but they also influence a lot of young people. IMHO, the best policies do not allow teachers and students to be FB friends until after graduation. I also think common sense dictates this policy.
Adults and youth view social media VERY differently, and most young people I know allow the personal/work boundaries in their lives to be much more blurry than I am comfortable with.
There have been many stories lately about teachers getting in trouble for what they say on facebook, etc. In general, my belief is that teachers need to vent sometimes, and that's fine. I could not tolerate being with a classroom of kids all day. But what I don;t get is why their profile is either public, or they "friend" students or parents.
Anyway, this article is worth the read, mainly to see the expression on the mom's face when she reads what the teacher wrote...
These are things that a kindergarten teacher should not be saying at all. The appearance of the children especially dirty clothing should be addressed privately with the parents. Nappy hair? Sheesh, the woman should know about nappy hair and not be judgmental about it. Perhaps the girl and her mother like natural black hair. And these are kindergarten children, they should be learning to read, so the comment about them not being able to read is a reflection on her teaching not on the kids.
Adults should NOT need a work policy to understand that this kind of behavior is not appropriate on any social media. In fact, it is not appropriate in the teacher's lounge either.
Keep in mind many, possibly most now, school districts do not allow teachers to maintain separate public and private profiles. Their profiles must be fully public at all times; often times teachers have to turn over their social media passwords to the district even.
Nana, I agree that the teacher in the article has no business saying those things (not to mention how illiterate she sounds.) Some other stories recently were not as clear, though. Medical staff often have a morbid, sometimes offensive sense of humor regarding their patients -- it helps to keep them sane, I think. I would think it would be the same with teachers sometimes? It doesn't mean that they actually mean what they say. I just don't get why they would be dumb enough to either have a public profile or invite students/parents as friends.
Marigold -- really? I can't believe that. That seems like it would violate the right to free speech in some way.
Teachers are like any other group of people, I guess -- some wonderful ones and some that you look at and wonder how the heck they ever graduated. The lack of common sense is shocking sometimes, but of course we only hear of those instances and not usually the great things teachers do.
I am not familiar with any districts or private schools, personally, where one would be required to make any of their personal media public. Which is not to say that districts or private schools can't make any policies they want within the bounds of Constitutional law, and if you don't agree, you just don't work there. First Amendment issues as relate to social media are very interesting to me.
Schools have a variety of policies with a wide range of strictness concerning confidentiality, professional conduct, etc. Depending on the population you work with, confidentiality as relates to HIPAA compliance ties in as well. Working with disabled populations, for instance, can open one up to potential breaches of the HIPAA Privacy Rule just by acknowledging even passively that certain students are in your program due to disability.
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