According to the Virginia Board of Education, being Facebook friends with students may soon become illegal for teachers and faculty.
The Virginia Board of Education is in the midst of deciding whether electronic communications between students and teachers should be considered acceptable or not. Policies are currently in the process of being drafted, and will soon be voted on, to determine how school staff should interact with consideration to a professional code of conduct.
The policy at stake would prohibit one-on-one electronic communications between school staff and students through personal online social-networking sites, such as Skype, Facebook, Twitter and by email.
“I’m an English teacher, so a lot of times my students all email me papers,” Catherine Gibson said. “But I would never have a Facebook friend as a student until after they graduate.”
“Technology is a wonderful tool. However, teachers should maintain strictly a professional relationship especially with their current students… The use of social networking websites, i.e. Facebook, between teachers and students in a non-professional manner should be prohibited,” Dean of Students Hassan Mims said.
Staff also would not be allowed to communicate with students through the transfer of text messages or by intentionally using online gaming networks as a mean of unprofessional communication. If invited by a student to privately join any of the said online or wireless networks and systems of communication, school employees must decline or ignore, and vice versa for students.
“Some teachers, like coaches, can be like mentors or just somebody that kids feel comfortable talking to. So we should be able to text or email them if they feel comfortable with it,” junior Christina Miller said.
“Coaches are county employees. However, it is implicit that the status quo of their relationship with players is slightly different from a teacher-student relationship. However, the relationship still should be professional,” Mims said.
Instead, the policy suggests that in order to communicate with students electronically, employees must only send information through an individual account, system or platform that will be provided to them. By doing so, the content within the message will be able to be easily accessed and monitored by the School Board in order to avoid any unprofessional or inappropriate behavior.
If, for the purpose of an emergency or other urgent circumstance, a teacher or other staff member happens to use an electronic device, aside from the designated platform provided by their school, they must immediately report the incident with the date, time and reasoning of the incident.
The policy, if passed, would also apply to teachers and faculty of virtual school programs and additional vendors who educate students outside of the school building.
The reasoning behind the proposed policy is in response to the over 120 calculated acts of harassment and sexual misconduct between students and school faculty investigated in Virginia schools since 2000. By monitoring and maintaining a professional code of conduct between students and staff members, the Virginia School Board is hoping to diminish future incidents.
If this policy passes, individual districts within Virginia would be responsible for deciding if they would like to pursue it. However, if the vote sways towards the proposal of avoiding mass dictation of the personal relationships between students and staff, a list recommendations for future conduct of the matter will still be sent to all school districts within Virginia.
