Posted on 08/06/2011 7:19:37 AM PDT by ozark hilljilly
A new law in Missouri has imposed a ban on Facebook and any other social networking between students and teachers.
Missouri’s governor, Jay Nixon, signed Senate Bill 54 that will go into effect on August 28, 2011. It is part of an initiative “to more clearly define teacher-student boundaries.”
This bill, sponsored by Senator Jane Cunningham, creates the “Amy Hestir Student Protection Act.”
Its goal is to eliminate unreported sexual misconduct and improve background information for hiring schools.
Amy Hestir, the then 13-year-old who was sexually assaulted by her teacher, is the inspiration for this new bill.Hestir testified before the Missouri House Education Committee about her ordeal that happened over two decades ago.
She revealed the troubling details and said, “I support this bill 100% and I am not afraid to tell my story even though it brought so much shame on me for so long.”
“Senate Bill 54 is designed to prevent such sexual misconduct from happening, compelling school districts to adopt written policies between teachers and students on electronic media, social networking and other forms of communication,” wrote tech and social media site Mashable.
According to Nixa School District spokesperson, Zac Rantz, the bill has a few areas of uncertainty. KSPR News reported that not all teacher-student Facebook contact is forbidden, just direct contact.
Teachers can have a public fan page. They just are not able to “friend” a student using their own personal private profile.
In our small rural Missouri school the staff freely gives out phone numbers and email addys to those who ask- parent or student and even my own younguns have a few teacher friends on Facebook, past and present. Dang...I guess we're all criminals and perverts now.
I don’t have any students as friends just because the district considers that going too far. I have friended a few graduates, but that’s it.
Facebook could be a really good communication tool, however for band etc. I hope this does not prohibit Facebook groups.
I don’t have any students as friends just because the district considers that going too far. I have friended a few graduates, but that’s it.
Facebook could be a really good communication tool, however for band etc. I hope this does not prohibit Facebook groups.
Isn’t this a thought crime?
What’s next, a partition between the students and the instructor? Or, how about a courtroom construction, where the Instructor towers over the students?
Teachers who took a personal interest in my education were a Godsend to me. And, darn, none of them every tried anything with me.
I find this FB law to be strange, at a minimum.
absolutely correct. I’m an adjunct professor and I have students send me friend requests during the course of the semester. I never accept them until after their grades are posted and the class is over....
I hate it when new employees that I’ve just hired requests to be FB friends, especially when I’m already planning to fire them
That is what we use it for around here, that and mass text messages.
Facebook can be used to remind of a fund raiser, call off a practice, any last minute changes, a reminder not to forget something, schedules....
I could see some kind of policy where you must also be friends with the child’s parent or guardian and maybe have written permission beforehand to just CYA.
While it may not be a good idea for a teacher to be “friends” with students on facebook, I believe this law is unconstitutional and violates the first amendment rights not to mention intrudes upon their lives outside of school, both the teacher and the student.
I haven’t noticed government schools being reluctant to intrude upon the lives of students outside school. This is nothing new.
Another law that refuses to get to the heart of the problem: a life without Jesus Christ naturally tends to do evil in a sensualized society.
Nothing to see here, move along.
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