Education Law

Don’t Tweet me, bro…

We can’t avoid it, it’s everywhere.  Social media, AKA Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other ways to tell the masses what you’re doing, where you are, and what you’re thinking.  Teachers and school districts have been using it to send messages out, replacing robo-calls and mass emails about closings or up to the minute happenings.  This posting from uber-blogger Alexander Russo over the weekend got our attention (and many other bloggers as well), mostly because it comes from the district that is recently being looked at as the national model.  Chicago is, like it or not, where much of the new federal policies are coming from because of the close ties to the city in the education world-perhaps that’s why this policy has us a bit befuddled.  Add to the mix that CPS recently praised an R&B singer with more than 75,000 Twitter followers and steamy lyrics as a role model who is helping get kids back to school this September, “He’s agreeing to help twitter many of our students back to school,” said Ron Huberman, Chicago Public Schools CEO.

The policy that caught Russo’s (and our) eye states that teachers in the district may not contact students in any way outside of the CPS email system or phone.  No Facebook or Twitter, and no sharing of cell phone numbers with students.  But what if the way to guide kids into making the right decisions is leading by example?  We all know that teachers, staff members, and others that tweet make mistakes and there’s a risk to putting something out there that you may regret later.  In other words, if you wouldn’t say it to their face, you probably shouldn’t make it your status on Facebook.  That’s just common sense, right?  It’s not like this is an entirely new issue, in fact BoardBuzz talked about this same topic almost exactly a year ago.

What other professions would squash innovation?  Can you think of other areas of the workforce where the boss would say, “reject new technology, embrace the past?”  Okay, maybe there are some areas out there that should reject new media, especially when it comes to safety.  Nobody wants their pilot or train operator on a cell phone tweeting about what’s for dinner, but there has to be some direction here.  It reeks of distrust.  In a way, school systems have to protect their employees and themselves by putting in policies like this one, but it also sends a message that says, “young teachers, we can’t trust you to do the right thing and not tweet with students.”  There has to be some middle ground, and we’re sure there are districts out there that are giving teachers some latitude to use Facebook and Twitter with students effectively.  Because if we reject these new technologies and ways of communicating, how will we ever embrace all the buzzworthy terms like “21st century learning?”

What’s your district doing in the face of new technology?  Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on August 10, 2009 (boomark / email).