New Missouri Law to Forbid Facebook Friending Among Teachers, Students (St. Joseph: sex offender, schools)

[SW Missouri Dave]

Personally I think the reporter that first wrote this story may have taken some liberties and the other newswires just copied that report (happens all the time). Here is the section of SB54 that is being referred too. You decide what it really says.

SECTION 162.069 - By January 1, 2012, every school district must develop a written policy concerning teacher-student communication and employee-student communications. Each policy must include appropriate oral and nonverbal personal communication, which may be combined with sexual harassment policies, and appropriate use of electronic media as described in the act, including social networking sites. 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. 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 eighteen years of age or less and who has not graduated.

SB54 - Creates the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act and establishes the Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by SW Missouri Dave

Personally I think the reporter that first wrote this story may have taken some liberties and the other newswires just copied that report (happens all the time). Here is the section of SB54 that is being referred too. You decide what it really says.

SECTION 162.069 - By January 1, 2012, every school district must develop a written policy concerning teacher-student communication and employee-student communications. Each policy must include appropriate oral and nonverbal personal communication, which may be combined with sexual harassment policies, and appropriate use of electronic media as described in the act, including social networking sites. 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. 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 eighteen years of age or less and who has not graduated.

SB54 - Creates the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act and establishes the Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children

I guess the line I bolded is the most important, but I'm no lawyer: What does "exclusive access" mean?

[stan4]

That's too bad.

My friend is a teacher here and she communicates reminders for assignments, updates for tutoring schedules, etc, to her students through facebook.

They all seem to get along.

[dusky_beauty]

Originally Posted by aragx6

I guess the line I bolded is the most important, but I'm no lawyer: What does "exclusive access" mean?

In this context it means that the teacher can't have any type of communication with a student that "excludes" other students, parents and colleagues so they can't see what is being said. Example: A secret email account between one student and the teacher.

[aragx6]

^That's essentially how I read it. In which case it seems like facebook (because it has private messaging capabilities) would be included, yes?

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Any "law" that's unenforcable and/or provides for no consequences is a waste of paper and ink and the peoples' money spent enacting it. This is akin to Californication!

You have a majority republican senate and house in Missouri. the Californication comment is a bit ironic, isn't it?

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by Versatile

MISSOURI FACEBOOK LAW: New Missouri Law to Forbid Facebook Friending Among Teachers, Students - WDAF (http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-missouri-facebook-law-20110801,0,2853685.story - broken link)

A new law, expected to take effect on August 28, will prohibit teachers and students from friending each other on Facebook. But that's not all. The new law wants to nix all private electronic communication between Missouri teachers and students.

Facebook police??

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

You have a majority republican senate and house in Missouri. the Californication comment is a bit ironic, isn't it?

We also have a Dem governor and a Dem Senator so the disease is spreading. No irony there. Just fact. Thankfully, I'll have assumed room temperature before it becomes as ridiculous here as it is on the left coast.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

We also have a Dem governor and a Dem Senator so the disease is spreading. No irony there. Just fact. Thankfully, I'll have assumed room temperature before it becomes as ridiculous here as it is on the left coast.

And they didn't pass the law.

I am so sick of neo cons and social conservatives trying to pretend they're believers in small government. Seen some pretty damn big expansions of MO state gov't in the last year or so ...

[Dr_Pepper]

Originally Posted by aragx6

This seems like a bizarre over-stepping of government to me. I mean you can make groups -- coworkers, family, friends etc. and I think it could be a good way to keep up with students.

I also don't get this line: "With online communication being the norm these days, and with younger and younger teachers being hired, Missouri lawmakers want to prevent inappropriate relationships from developing online."

Teachers out there: Is this true? Seems like recent post-college grads have been teaching for years.

And is there evidence to suggest that online relationships become inappropriate more readily than in-person relationships? Seems to me, if a teacher is a sick, sick sicko who wants to get intimate with a student, it's just as easy to do that now as it was 10 years ago pre-Facebook.

Ah, I saw this on Facebook last night and was rather amused.

Why in the eff would you trust your kid to be babysat by a man/woman 8 hours a day when you won't so much as trust them to communicate with your kid online?

Furthermore, a creeper teacher doing something in person is a "he said she said" matter. Online communication? That leaves EVIDENCE. This almost sounds like a bill that was designed to protect teachers, not students.

But in the end, shouldn't we be more concerned with making sure these creeper teachers are never hired in the first place, or can be fired just as readily as any other employee when misconduct occurs?


**edit: reading the post at the top of this page, it says, "Teachers also cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student. " <<isn't that saying that teachers cannot have (basically) a Facebook whatsoever, since it allows exclusive access with current/former students (regardless of whether or not such messaging/friend requesting/etc actually occurs)? Thoughts?