I remember when I was at a particular school once where we had a number of incidents where staff members sent inappropriate or slightly unprofessional emails using the school email server and it came back to bite them. As a result, we spent a bit of time working on a staff policies. I have shared a few on this page of my wiki. It is something that all schools need to be giving consideration to as is clear from this recent sharing on a list I belong to:

A principal was notified that a teacher was complaining with colleagues about a school policy via chat and wall posts on Facebook during non-business hours and from her home computer. The principal was eventually given a transcript (screenshot) of one of the chats and felt it necessary to address this teacher’s complaint with her staff.

What action can the principal take, legally or otherwise, for the staff person’s unprofessional behavior online?

What kind of language should be in our staff Acceptable Use Policy to allow us to take action and/or prevent such scenarios from occurring?

Or is this simply no more than a teachable moment given to our staff about professionalism and a warning about the digital trail of online office gossip? Can this be seen as no more than a rant to a colleague after a few drinks at a bar after work that gets back to her boss?

Please reply with your advice and opinions. THANKS!

You can see that this is becomming more and more of an issue for not only schools but everyone, everywhere, with many employees running into problems requiring them to be disciplined or even dismissed.

I read Sylvia Tolisano’s excellent post on this issue on her Langwitches blog this week. I urge you to go and read it for yourself but here are some points she distilled from her reading and discussion:

• Is there a need to regulate or mandate teachers’ social network profiles whether they are private or not?
• Is it appropriate for students to befriend their teachers and vice-versa?
• Should contact between teachers and students be prohobited or encouraged
• Does age and grade level of students play a role?
• What are the legal implications for inappropriate content on teachers’ profiles/pages?
• Do we need to raise and educate our teachers on the the issue of “appropriate” content or do we assume that ALL of them are professionals and should know what is appropriate.
  
• Is it any of our business what teachers do and post on their (private) online profiles during their (private) time?
• Can we and should we pass judgment and make decisions based on the content of a teacher’s online profile?
• If you are “friends” with your students and you see them post inappropriate things, are you required to report it? Can you be their friend and their police?
• What are the legal/ethical implications of being friends with your students?

Regular readers will recall that I had quite a bit of discussion on some of these issues myself a little while back.

As always, your thoughts about this topic are appreciated.

Photo: Forever Linked http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexterousartisan/2776292807/