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From an article on the internet:
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.”
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.
I’m interested to know what you think of this? Should teachers “friend” their students? Or are they only asking for trouble?
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Filed in: Jaunty Post
Jan 29th
2011
1:49 am
Quilt Lady Said:
I would say its not a good idea for teachers to friend their students on social sites. It could mean trouble for them later. Although you can look at it anther way, should we be told what we can’t do on our own time. That’s kind of taking a little freedom away. Which is happening all the time everywhere.
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Jan 29th
2011
9:05 am
EllenToo Said:
I believe and have always believed that teachers who communicate with students on social sites or on personal websites are asking for trouble. I know some teachers who have a web site where they post homework assignments and special projects, etc and that is acceptable as long as there is no personal communication beyond that. Having taught my share of students in the 37 years I was a teacher I know friending students in any manner is a tricky and sometimes dangerous thing to do.
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Jan 29th
2011
11:06 am
anne Said:
It is better to be a complete professional and not befriend anyone. A teacher has to keep her distance.
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Jan 29th
2011
12:20 pm
Shana Said:
Oh, it’s a horrible idea to “friend” students. All of the districts should follow suit. Students don’t need to be privy to teachers’ private lives, and teachers don’t need to be “friends” with their students. That said, I am friends with some of my former students–FORMER. One is in 9th grade, but the others are in college or out of college. And I’m friends with them on my Shana Galen page, not my personal page.
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Jan 29th
2011
12:29 pm
victoriaP Said:
I’m a teacher on Long Island and my district sent us a formal letter years ago (like 4-5 superintendents maybe more ago) to not have any profiles on MySpace–the only one really being used at the time. Kids were setting up fake profiles of teachers. So that’s the primary reason I don’t have accounts on any social media website. Now many of my colleagues do, but they mention how often they have to explain to the students who find them that they don’t “friend” any students. I may relent, but keep my security settings high. I do go to favorite author fan facebook pages often–so maybe in the future.
We have eboards for school assignments with a direct link for email communication. I will give students my school email address to send me assignments. Our district also created a Google community where its restricted to school staff & students with Google docs, sites, etc. It’s a great way to communicate in an appropriate setting that is monitored by the district.
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Jan 29th
2011
1:56 pm
catslady Said:
I agree that it’s the safest thing to do. It’s also a little sad that that’s the way it is but better safe than sorry I guess. It would be nice for all schools to have sites up for strictly questions about assignments. I know this is done in colleges or they at least give them an email where they can be contacted and vice versa.
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Jan 29th
2011
2:02 pm
Phyllis Said:
An old friend of mine from high school (20+ years ago) said a couple of years ago that she was told not to have a facebook account. She finally did, but with ultra-secrecy and only to get in touch with old friends.
The teachers at m kids’ school were told to not friend any of their students (mostly elementary, so that’s pretty much moot) OR their parents. I had some of my kids’ former teachers unfriend me. Two moved to other schools, another is on maternity leave, and we got back in touch online since we don’t see each other at school.
(and you know what? I hate using “friend” as a verb)
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Jan 29th
2011
2:04 pm
Danielle Gorman Said:
I don’t think it’s the best idea. I do think if they are going to be friends with students then it should be a student-teacher page. A page set up just so the teachers could communicate with students about assignments, not to be used for personal use. I do think by teachers and students being friends that this is how the student/teacher line gets blurred and little mistakes are miscontrued and turned around into something way worse then it could have been.
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Jan 29th
2011
2:36 pm
ArkansasCyndi Said:
Interesting discussion. All the changes happening on the internet social front are happening so fast that lines are being blurred before they can be drawn.
“Friending” students is a bad idea. In fact, I wonder how many of us really “know” our Facebook friends.
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Jan 29th
2011
7:57 pm
Chelsea B. Said:
It’s just asking for trouble….
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Jan 29th
2011
8:26 pm
Sandra G. Rogers Said:
Remembering my school days back in the dark ages, I can’t even imagine wanting to be friends with a teacher or why a teacher would want to be friends with a student. I don’t think school system should tell a teacher that they can’t be on a social network.
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Jan 30th
2011
9:07 am
Deb Said:
I am a teacher and I do not “friend” students until after they graduate from HS. Simple comments can be misconstrued and the way the public slays teachers at times, it is a safeguard for the teachers. Besides, I write some fun things as well as serious things on my statuses and I just want to keep my private life a little bit private from students. If I want them to know I made homemade beef and noodles for supper, I will probably tell them the next day anyway.
To the above comment, don’t lump all teachers into the category of “why would they want to friend students”. My sister had several students for awhile as friends until her school suggested all teachers not “friend” students. She didn’t have a hidden agenda and from the responses she got from students, she is very well-liked. For professional safety, she did “unfriend” them.
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Jan 30th
2011
6:13 pm
Linda Henderson Said:
I don’t think teachers should friend students on any social site. I think it can lead to problems. My daughter is friends with her kids teachers on Facebook and that has come in very handy several times.
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