Missouri Passes New Law Regulating Teachers’ Facebook Friends
- Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:09am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (The Blaze/AP) — As they prepare lesson plans for fall, teachers across Missouri have an extra chore before the new school year begins: purging their Facebook friend lists to comply with a new state law that limits their contact with students on social networks.
The law was proposed after an Associated Press investigation found 87 Missouri teachers had lost their licenses between 2001 and 2005 because of sexual misconduct, some of which involved exchanging explicit online messages with students.
But many teachers are protesting the new restrictions, complaining the law will hurt their ability to keep in touch with students, whether for classroom purposes, personal problems or even emergencies.
Alana Maddock, nurse and cheerleader coach at East Middle School, Joplin, Mo, used Facebook to locate students after the tornado destroyed several schools and much of Joplin on May 22, 2011. Maddock won't be able to communicate with students after a law was passed in Missouri that prohibits teachers from contacting students on Facebook. (AP/Mike Gullett)
The new law forbids teachers from having “exclusive access” online with current students or former students who remain minors, meaning any contact on Facebook or other sites must be done in public rather than through private messages.
Lucinda Lawson, an English teacher at Hartville High School in southern Missouri, expects to purge nearly 80 current and former students from her Facebook account, and she worries that doing so could leave some students vulnerable.
Private messages give “truly supportive teachers the chance to get help for them when they’re in dangerous or compromising situations,” Lawson said.
Lawson once called a state child-abuse hotline after a private online conversation revealed dangerous drug use by a student’s adult family member. She encouraged a pregnant teen to remain in school and helped the girl tell her parents. Another student confided that his attendance woes and classroom struggles were caused by the financial and emotional stress of caring for a mentally ill parent.
Lawson has no qualms with other provisions in the law to monitor teachers accused of sexual misconduct, such as conducting annual criminal background checks and requiring districts to share information about employees who are fired or resign in sex-abuse cases.
Still, she says, teachers often use Facebook and other online forums for legitimate educational purposes – and to help students with personal troubles they might not be willing to discuss in more public settings.
In Joplin, where 160 people died and hundreds more were injured by a historic tornado in May, several teachers relied on Facebook to track down missing students in the storm’s immediate aftermath.
“I am not a pervert and don’t wish to be treated as one,” Joplin middle school teacher Alana Maddock wrote in an email to Gov. Jay Nixon in June, not long before he signed the legislation. “I am very responsible with my Facebook pages and don’t appreciate being assumed to be a danger to my students.”
The law, which takes effect Aug. 28, does not outright prohibit teachers from interacting with students on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other sites. Instead, it requires local school districts to create written policies by January that outline “appropriate use of electronic media such as text messaging and Internet sites for both instructional and personal purposes.”
It will be up to individual districts to define “exclusive access,” but in general the law holds that any contact must be made in the public sphere rather than through private messages. So teachers can set up public Facebook pages or Twitter accounts but can’t reach out to their students as friends or followers, or vice versa.
State Sen. Jane Cunningham, who sponsored the proposal, said many educators who have spoken against the new rules misunderstand them. The legislation had backing from education lobbyists and organized teacher groups and enjoyed unanimous support from lawmakers.
“Any teacher who is really working hard with a student privately would want to have a parent or administrator know how hard they’re working,” said Cunningham, a Republican from suburban St. Louis. “The only problem is if there’s something they want to hide.”
Despite its earlier support for the measure, the Missouri State Teachers Association now says it plans to seek changes when legislators return to the Capitol in January.
“The problem is the bill is so vague,” said Todd Fuller, a spokesman for the statewide teachers’ group. “There is a lot of interpretation left up to a local school district.”
Many school districts already have such policies in place, and individual teachers have their own internal guidelines, Fuller added.
Nate Smith, a debate coach and history teacher at Lee’s Summit High School near Kansas City, said he already declines students’ Facebook friend requests to maintain personal and professional distance. He worries that some overzealous districts will go even further than the limits spelled out in the new law.
“You’ll have a lot of school districts that will ban all forms of social media communication with students,” he said. “There could be some really good educational opportunities lost.”
In Hartville, Lawson isn’t the only member of her household who needs to amend her Facebook settings. Her husband is also a teacher, and their 14-year-old daughter, Olivia, relied on Facebook to communicate with her English teacher to discuss school projects.
Olivia Lawson said she spends several hours a day on Facebook. And like her mother, she recalls examples of friends and classmates who shared concerns with teachers online that they would not dare discuss in person.
“In person, there’s always the chance of someone else hearing you,” she said. “Sometimes you don‘t really want your friends to know what you’re talking about with a teacher.”
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Comments (100)
Qoheleth
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:41amThis is a perfect example “blaming the technology.” Facebook and friending isn’t the problem. Sexual misconduct is the problem. The Facebook messages were just a symptom; a symptom that didn‘t show up in other teacher’s interactions with students. So now, teachers have an avenue for learning more about their students blocked off. It should be against the law for teachers to engage in explicit messaging with students in any form. It shouldn’t be against the law for teachers to find ways to connect and communicate with them in any form. It would probably be a good idea at least to obtain parental permission first. Our daughter’s teachers did.
Report Post »stop spending
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 10:07amI have a sister-in-law that is a middle school teacher. She had TONS of ‘friends’ that were her students. She also has married a guy that is ‘gay’ recently, and she supports/ talks about/ and posts pictures of ‘gay friends’ doing gay things. Her students were subject to her posts. I, as a parent won‘t even let my teenage kid be ’friends’ with her because of the posts that she makes.
Report Post »GOOD, I’m glad that they are making the teachers drop those students as friends.
Teacher aren‘t suppose to be their ’friends’. They are suppose to be there ‘teachers’. There is a line being crossed and I’m glad that Missouri is putting a stop to it. Other states should follow suit.
Khedewia
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 10:22amStopSpending: I agree with you. It doesn’t really sound appropriate for a student and teacher for be friends on Facebook. The teacher may have personal stuff on their Facebook and I think the teacher’s personal life should be left personal. Students should be able to contact their teachers for legitimate school-related stuff. They can use email. Why Facebook? Sure, Facebook is very popular with kids and adults. Still, the kids know how to write an email. They can also write a handwritten note and give that to the teacher. There are other ways to communicate other than Facebook!
Report Post »thinkinghuman
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 10:35amNO, the technology IS the problem because of the way it is set up, it gives the ADVANTAGE by far, to the perverts in the world.
Report Post »jkendal
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 11:31am@Qoheleth – Exactly! This is no different than strip searching grandma at the airport as a way of combating terrorism instead of going after the ones who are mainly responsible for it – i.e. muslim extremists!
Report Post »gotta light
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 12:04pmOK IS IT JUST ME…..
Am I the only one who thinks there’s something wrong with grown adults doing things like facebooking and twittering and myspacing?!?!?
When adults mimic their children behaviors & habits there’s a VERY REAL problem with the adult!
Hey bud gotta light?
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 2:03pmNanny state…Shame!
Report Post »ai4px
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 3:02pmThey’ve been blaming “technology” for a long, long time now…. just look at the gun control efforts.
Report Post »tersky
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 10:52pmFacebook is not just for stupid, pointless communication. There is real and valuable networking going on there. I have had some adults tell me they won’t use Facebook because someone could do a background check on you there and use stuff against you, but there is a pretty simple solution to that. I actually find it kind of shocking that people do sometimes post damning stuff there.
I was cajoled into joining Facebook two or three years ago by one of the high school foreign exchange students I was supervising that year. We have monthly meetings and often I have to remind kids of the rules. I was sending out e-mails but the kids never responded to them and often didn’t even answer direct questions. However, when I contact them through Facebook, for some reason they are far more likely to respond. If we had a law here that forbade me from contacting my exchange students through Facebook, it would make my job seriously more difficult.
Some of my Facebook friends are former teachers whom I value, and a few are former students, kids I taught in Kindergarten who also happen to close friends with my niece. They are now 15. I didn’t have Facebook when I was a student, or when I was teaching, but I wish I had because there are a lot of other people who are dear to me with whom I would love to still have some occasional contact. And because of Facebook, I have been able to retain contact with my exchange students after they return home. Other methods are not as effective.
Report Post »smiddenkidden
Posted on August 11, 2011 at 7:07amcan you explain to me what “doing gay things” is? it seems the problem in your mind has more to do with gay people than anything else, which anyone with a TV or computer already has access to.
Report Post »Volfie
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:31amPeople should think about the potential for abuse that this law provides. Regardless of whether or not you think private teach-student interactions should occur, just think of the ways this could go bad for teachers.
What if the student misrepresents himself and later blackmails the teacher? It would be easy. Facebook does not control what a person’s screen name is. A student could claim to be someone else to get friended or some other prohibited contact. After that, the student could reveal himself as being someone prohibited and assure the teacher that the authorities will never know…as long as he gets an “A.” The possibilities there are virtually endless.
And then there are the inadvertent violation possibilities. What if the teacher plays a Facebook game (many people do) where the player is encouraged to friend others who play the game. That could easily lead to prohibited contact without either party knowing. Such things might come up in a review or later from an unrelated problem.
The potential for abuse is huge. The value of the regulation is negligible. It could even be considered a violation of the teachers’ rights. Just because the person is a teacher, the person cannot play Facebook games (like Farmville) because they may friend a prohibited demographic? This legislation was clearly designed and approved by completely uninformed people.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:38amIndeed, that was my main concern when reading the article.
Report Post »IntransigentMind
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 9:32amI agree! Typical overreach…
Report Post »thinkinghuman
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 10:37amI think if the Tech Giants would get their act together, and use all that brainpower to implement safety measures to prevent perverts from having the advantage to lie about who they are, and give parents a much bigger (as in HUGE) say as to what and who their kids interact with, that would help.
Report Post »oldsoldier10
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:27amWTF happened to all the women in Missouri? Why do all women in Missouri have HUGE noggins? All blonde and EPIC melons.
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 9:01amBelieve me sir, there are MANY super hot foxes in Missouri, as there are in all states (save West Virginia). But, yes , some women have heads the size of medicine balls and butts the size of engine blocks.
Report Post »gator70
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:24amThe irony of this is pretty funny if you think about it. Beyond that I really don’t think Facebook friendships with other folks children is acceptable or professional regardless of the excuse. It is not a teacher’s job to counsel my children or track them down after a storm, it is my job. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, that is their job. I don‘t understand why they don’t seem to undertand that.
Report Post »love the kids
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:43amTHANK YOU, however, we are in the minority.
Report Post »patriotone
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:52amExactly what I was thinking. If I want to allow a teacher to e-mail my child, or private message them, then I will give that teacher my permission. Teach them to read and write; teach them how to think. Your profession does not grant you license to converse with my child outside of the classroom.
Report Post »HUNITHUNIT
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 9:48amPeople found a way to communicate pre-facebook, I think they can handle it now. While facebook may not be the root problem, it does not hurt to remove a potential medium for sexual misconduct.
Report Post »Rodeoamy
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 9:54amI’m right there with you. If a teacher’s got business with my kiddo, they can come through me.
Report Post »Mtroom
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 1:13pmAlthough i feel the same way that it needs to go threw the parents…i still feel the approach is wrong…to punish the whole because of the few is wrong….harsh punishment to those who violate the law…not probation like the teacher in Florida, and isn’t there one that married her student after jail time?…that is the issue ..not which chat line they use.
Report Post »smiddenkidden
Posted on August 11, 2011 at 7:14amhow very nice of you to want to limit the amount of people who care about and want the best for your child. i‘m sure they’ll benefit from that.
Report Post »seriously? it’s not their business to care?? perhaps you’d be more satisfied with online schooling options where no one gives a hoot about if your kid is dead or alive…the way you’d like it apparently.
i personally am very glad my child has teachers who would worry about him in case of disaster, who would think to check in on his welfare and who would take the extra time to be there for him in case of some problem he should be having…hopefully he would tell me first, but children often have notions of how an adult or parent would react that aren’t true, so are reluctant to tell that person due to that misguided notion. ..i’m not seeing anything that, if i were your child, would lead me to believe you would be someone i could trust with anything. i’d rather my son trust SOMEONE than think he had to go it alone.
melmatmic
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:22amAs usual. Punish everyone for the transgressions of a few. I personally think facebook is a waste of time but this law seems unconstitutional to me.
Report Post »thinkinghuman
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 10:42amI thought that too, but then I thought again. This woman is an EMPLOYEE of the state and as such she needs to do the POLICY of what her boss thinks is the best thing to do. Its a job. Its not some free speech issue. For instance, this woman does not have a right to teach her religion in the classroom for say, 10 minutes, before every class. She does not have the “free speech” rights to do that AND KEEP her job. No, she will be fired, because that would be very disruptive.
Report Post »mikenleeds
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:17amof all the people i know teachers and nurses are the worst of the sexual perverts i know
Report Post »Oil_Robb
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 9:27amIm not too sure about that, the Vatican has a stack of piad invoices that might rival your comment…where were these young blond needy teachers when I was in high school?. Im kidding I get your point.
Report Post »TwoLazy
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:12amThis is one of those articles, that the headline says it all.
Really … Had Enough Yet?
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:10amThere isn‘t one reason given why teachers should be allowed to ’friend’ students. Nothing outside the school is any business of the teachers, including ‘finding them after a tornado’ or other natural catastrophe or ‘personal problems’.
Report Post »nysparkie
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:09amGOOD! Teachers belong in the classroom. Not in some kids bedroom via bluetooth or wireless.
Report Post »CommonSenseis Missing
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:06amI think she can meet her students at the doughnut shop, which she is eveidently at quite a bit.
Report Post »ginsberg
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:11amYou are a fool. Im sure your job if you have one helps noone. Just another meathead.
Report Post »randy
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:57amTotally agree with you COMMONSENSEIS MISSING
The fool is RRFLYER and the jerk is RRFLYER
These Loser teachers have no business keeping the indoctrination going after school hours.
Wake up American!
These GodD@#$ radical liberal progressive un-American commie democrats want your kids 24/7
And yeah lady, have another donut and STFU!
Report Post »NealPatrick
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:03amWhen I was growing up, contact with a teacher outside of school was not done and your parents raised you.
Report Post »love the kids
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:26amThis is exactly right, but what has society built? They now feed kids 3 meals a day, and watch them for up to 13 hours a day, all on the expense of the parents who do that stuff for their own kids.
Report Post »Why wouldn’t these parents want teachers raising them after they got home also? After all, let someone else take care of their little welfare increaser.
love the kids
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:55amThese teachers are just that, teachers, not counselers, so stick to indoctronating our kids, not telling them what to do when the 8th graders 2nd step dad, who is mixing a letheal dose of alchol and meth, and is also the father of their second baby, who is on the way any day, is beating her depressed mother for getting arrested for shoplifting a new Iphone.
Report Post »studentofeib
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:06amspoken like a true idiot,,, judgemental, uniformed liberal.. judge all of the thousands of teachers in Mo. by the actions of 87? You must b a bigotted liberal.
Report Post »love the kids
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:15amStudentofeib
Report Post »Did you read the story? below is a paragraph from the story.
“Lawson once called a state child-abuse hotline after a private online conversation revealed dangerous drug use by a student’s adult family member. She encouraged a pregnant teen to remain in school and helped the girl tell her parents. Another student confided that his attendance woes and classroom struggles were caused by the financial and emotional stress of caring for a mentally ill parent”
Mabey they should have put more pictures in it for you to understand.
Calling me a liberal is like calling OPRAH a true conservative.
love the kids
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:28amYou also state “by the actions of 87”, you know that if 87 have lost their liscense, then the number is actually 4 times higher.
Report Post »Dahart
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:43amI see both sides here…..but I doubt this law will prevent sexual misconduct. Wrongheaded people will do wrongheaded things regardless of the law.
Report Post »PATRIOTMAMA
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:42amWelcome to the world of Socialism folks. Regulation, regulation, regulation!!!! Teachers, those of you who love your unions, this is what you get when you regulate the crap out of everything. Eventually they finish regulating all of us and come after you. Enjoy the spoils of your work.
Report Post »love the kids
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:09amExactly, they think everyone else needs to be regulated, but then all of the sudden, it hits them and they get pissed. Let’s use their arguement, “We need to protect our children”. After all, every teacher that gets involved in these sexual relations with students are DEMOCRATS!!!
Report Post »Shiroi Raion
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:42amProgressives take note:
Since the hippy days: 1960′s
The states that had the most people move away:
New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio
ALL heavily Democratic – heavily taxed and heavily regulated
The states that had the most people move in:
Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia – swing states
Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee – heavily Republican states
Low or NO taxes and less regulated.
Freer states are doing better. Restore states rights, e.g. states can control education far better than the Fed and it was much cheaper and had better results before Federal interference.
Progressivism is a failure. Act like adults and admit Progressivism is horrible and learn Libertarian thought and restore the truth of American history. Enough with the revised history in public schools and colleges rewritten to fit the Progressive agenda.
Truth will always win. If you attempt to create a new government based on lies, the only possible result is another evil government that denies freedom and the opportunity to prosper for posterity.
Report Post »Rob
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:37amFacebook is for attention starved people…it is all about “look at ME”, “comment about ME”. Fools
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:43amIt doesn’t have to be. I know people who practically put in when they have a bowel movement, and I know people who only use it to keep in contact with distant relatives. I’m a 12 hour drive from my home town, and have friends on my list from high school, some no longer living in my hometown either. And my graduating class was only 33. I also have friends from my brother’s class (2 years older) and the one between us. Most of them don’t use it that way, but I have new friends who seem to just want to collect friends, some they don’t know anyway but online. Sad.
Report Post »love the kids
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:49amIt‘s funny how the LIBERAL teachers don’t like this rule, why, because now it effects them negatively. If you look at other liberal arguements out there like wal-mart can’t do background checks on job applicants because they get tax breaks, and thefore, they are publicly funded, well, this is no different. YOU are publicly funded and MUST obey by govt. rules. YOU WILL COMPLY!!!
Report Post »Striker
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:37amThis is just another step in Government tring to legislate morality. It does not work. The bad guys always find ways around the laws which lead to more laws. before you know it …there will be 1000 new lwas tring to protect our childeren from the bad guys. The best protection in a good strong family unit that teaches conservative values.
Report Post »RugDog
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:36amIt’s not YOUR job teachers to keep in touch with students. It’s your job to teach them in the class room. Remember your place. You are just a teacher. Mind you own darn business out side the classroom.
Report Post »likwidlizard
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:33amThis is GOOD! Maybe you’re not a pervert but you got plenty of them lurking in the schools teaching class. Almost eveyday somewhere in this nation there are teachers being arrested for screwing the kiddies or the teens. There are lots of perverts in our schools. That’s why they decided to become “teachers”.
Report Post »Mandors
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:30amIt’s called email. It’s called talking to the person in class. It’s called an assignment calendar. Facebook is unnecessary in this arena.
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:13amI’m a teacher and I agree with you entirely!
Report Post »Servant Of YHVH
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:27amI don’t like the idea of restricting people either, BUT,
Report Post »“complaining the law will hurt their ability to keep in touch with students, whether for classroom purposes, personal problems or even emergencies.”
Hey teachers, that is what parents are for! Teachers just like other people in authority needs to be held to higher standards and if they don’t want to be held to higher standards, then quit being a teacher.
loriann12
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:40amThis could be on of those, a few spoil it for the rest. There’s still email. I think exclusive contact (without the parents knowledge) could promote some kids to falsly accuse their parents of things. Yes, therey were some 80 teachers who lost their license, out of how many that didn’t? What’s that percentage?
Report Post »Hugie 59 PA
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:22amUse email to contact students or have the school set up a telephone system to provide information to students who call and listen to a daily recording the teacher made in advance – say of homework assignments, special project, etc.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:15amMissouri is another good state to stay away from. Any state that wants to regulate its citizens is a state that I will not be visiting anytime soon. Next they will be telling them that they can’t get on facebook at all. Then they will regulate how much computer time they can have.
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:11am“Next they will be telling them that they can’t get on facebook at all.”
Who is this “they” you are referencing?? I teach in Maine and our school committee has a policy that prohibits teachers from having “Facebook” and other social networking relationships with students outside of school. Why in the world would anyone with a bit of common sense fear that that would be extended to prohibit altogether a teacher’s use of Facebook? Teaching is a JOB — all employers have job-related expectations. My JOB is to teach kids how to process information and to help them develop sound habits of the mind (not to “indoctrinate” them politically as many here claim). Good policy!! It is not appropriate to “friend” students on Facebook: it crosses a professional line and besides, adults do not NEED 15-year-old “buddies.”
Report Post »Kevin
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 9:16amWhile for the most part I would say about 80%-90% of teachers probably do their job and do the best they can. The problem is there are also a bunch of twits in the mix and because the NEA doesn’t have a real backbone (yes I think the NEA is bunch of cowards) to get rid of them they side with stupid ideas like this! GIGI80 to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, “those who would give up freedom for security deserve neither.” Here’s an idea maybe the flunky teachers who wiggled their way into being administrators should join the rest of us in the real world and start EARNING THEIR PAY CHECK! GET RID OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND EARN YOUR OWN MONEY INSTEAD OF BEGGING TAX PAYERS TO PAY YOUR SALARIES!
Report Post »Bowmaster
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:12amThe next thing you know they will want to restrict collective bargaining!
Report Post »NickDeringer
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 7:12amGiven that there have so many cases of teachers have affairs with their students, this may not be such a bad idea.
Report Post »Ashley
Posted on August 5, 2011 at 8:08amPlaying “big brother” with FaceBook will not stop the deviant behavior of certain teachers. Those that are inclined to do such things will find a way and will continue to with or without FaceBook. And, it was happening way before FaceBook, social media, or even computers. Let us use some commonsense and stop turning to “big brother” or “big sis” to take care of things that they really can not. Especially, since this is a “personal responsibilty” problem that has to take place on the individual level.
Report Post »