Issues Jill Stassie Georgia Southern University ITEC 7330 Summer 2011

Carroll County Schools (2010). Carroll county employee handbook. Retrieved from
http://www.carrollcountyschools.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=QsBpPacaNfY%3d&tabid=7164& mid=15046

This policy deals with social networking, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. The policy explains the image educators have as professionals. It continues by mentioning some instances seen in the media where educators have exhibited bad judgment and unprofessional behaviors by using these social media networks inappropriately. These networks have enabled educators and students to form non-professional and inappropriate relationships. One such

problem is that the educator and student may share more personal information than necessary and that could cause a perceived bias in the classroom. The policy explains what friending and unfriending mean to the social networks. The policy then recommends that educators should not accept friend requests from students or initiate any friend requests, they should be aware that even if your page is private your friends could still download and share your information. They continue by recommending that our content is not inappropriate, libelous, obscene, or mentions any students or your specific school. They encourage you to think about how what you are posting could be perceived by others. Lastly, they prohibit posting images that includes students. This policy is strong in that it covers all the bases of social networking. It does not insult or insinuate that you are going to anything inappropriate. It serves more as a warning to use your better judgment and not to post things in haste. It explains some of the potential pitfalls of social networking and what can happen if you friend your students or simply share too much of your life with the online world.

The weakness of this policy is that is really is just a guideline. It recommends that you do these things, it does not say you cannot. I do not know if that is due to legal issues or not. I believe it should at the very least say that you cannot friend current students and need to wait until August 1st after their graduation to friend students.

Effingham County Schools (2010). Internet acceptable use policy. Retrieved from https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/Attachment.aspx?S=4062&AID=287967& MID=19208 In 2010 Effingham County added a social networking policy to their internet acceptable use policy. This policy states that employees are permitted to participate in social networking sites such as facebook and myspace but they may not friend any student, K-12, currently attending a county school. They define a student as applicable until August after the student graduates. They also state that employees may not create a webpage, website, blog, social networking site, or any other resource that represents a school-sponsored activity, club, organization, or team without the approval of the IT Coordinator. The strength of this policy is that it is short and to the point. They do not recommend that you do not friend students; they tell you that you cannot. They continue by giving a definition of what a student is to clear up any confusion. Additionally, adding the need for approval for websites and the like that represent the school is a good measure. The weaknesses of this policy are that it really does not explain some of the possible dangers of social networking sites. They do not explain the dangers of posting inappropriate content that can be viewed as violating some of the ethics codes set by the PSC. They also do not remind us that nothing on line is really private.

Franklin Public Schools (2011). School board policies. Retrieved from http://www.franklin.k12.wi.us/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=194 &Itemid=501 Franklin Public Schools Staff Acceptable Use of Technology is a very extensive policy that covers staff use of school and personal technology. They begin the policy by explaining that information technology and communication resources are provided to staff and students for educational and school-related purposes only. They continue by explaining the consequences of any violations of the policies. The policy provides a long list of unacceptable use activities. One refers to viewing, submitting, or publishing defamatory, inaccurate, offensive, threatening or harassing materials or messages either publicly or privately. It goes on to state that all electronic forms of communication must be school related. It states that personal conversations (using electronic forms of communication) not related to school must be avoided. Electronic forms of communication are defined as emails, texting, etc. The policy addresses Web 2.0 tools and states that any use of these tools for communication or collaboration must be approved by your building administrator and adheres to district procedures. Use of these tools are limited to instructional purposes and personal conversations not related to the curriculum must be avoided. The strengths of this policy are that is covers communication between teachers and students. It explicitly states that personal conversation not relating to school must be avoided. This is a good general rule to follow. Another strength is that it addresses Web 2.0 tools and does not discourage their use but provides an approval process. The weaknesses of this policy is that is does not address Facebook and MySpace. The Web. 2.0 tools are defined as blogs, podcasts, etc. and one could argue that other social

networking sites are included. The fact that personal conversations not related to school must be avoided do provide a general umbrella and one could infer that they mean social networking activities. However, many people need the rules spelled out letter by letter and it would greatly benefit this policy to specifically mention Facebook and MySpace.

My policy would incorporate the strengths of the policies I examined. Social Networking Policy: As educators we have a professional image to uphold and how we conduct ourselves online helps determine this image. As reported by the media, there have been instances of educators demonstrating professional misconduct while engaging in inappropriate dialogue about their schools and/or students or posting pictures and videos of themselves engaged in inappropriate activity. Employees may participate in social networking sites from home. They should not participate at any time during the school day from their personal electronic devices. At no time should an employee include a student currently attending a Carroll County School in the employees social networking site. Students, as defined by that state, are applicable until August of the year the student has graduated. For the protection of your professional reputation, the school has implemented the following policies: Friends and Friending Do not accept students as friends on personal social networking sites. (Decline any studentinitiated friend requests). Do not initiate friendships with students. Remember that people classified as friends have the ability to download and share your information with others. If you wish to use networking protocols as a part of the educational process, please work with your administrators and technology staff to identify and use a restricted, school-endorsed networking platform. Content Do not use commentary deemed to be defamatory, obscene, proprietary, or libelous. Exercise caution with regards to exaggeration, colorful language, guesswork, obscenity, copyrighted materials, legal conclusions, and derogatory remarks or characterizations. Weigh whether a particular posting puts your effectiveness as a teacher at risk. Post only what you want the world to see. Imagine your students, their parents, your administrator, visiting your site. It is not like posting something to your web site or blog and then realizing that a story or photo should be taken down. On a social networking site, basically once you post something it may be available, even after it is removed from the site. Do not discuss students or coworkers or publicly criticize school policies or personnel. Do not post images that include students.