Missouri Makes Teach-Student Facebook 'Friending' Illegal

[ChrisBorg]

Source: msnbc

Missouri has passed a law making it illegal for state teachers to friend their students on Facebook.

Governor Jay Nixon signed Missouri State Bill 54, which bans students and teachers from communicating and being "friends" on the social networking site. The law was created to prevent inappropriate relationships between children and teachers.

"Teachers cannot establish, maintain or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child's legal custodian, physical custodian or legal guardian," the law states. "Teachers also cannot have a non work-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student."

The law is not limited to Facebook and applies to any social networking site. Although Facebook fan pages will still be allowed, direct communication between teachers and students on the site will be banned.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43992926

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Teacher's pet has now leapt a new bar.

[RKP5637]

1. I find this all really really weird and stupid. n/t

[cbdo2007]

2. I'm fine with this. Many employers make it against the rules to "friend"

your subordinates and there are many rules out there. I don't see any logical reason why a teacher needs to be friends with a current student. Teachers can create their own web pages, easily and free, if they want to communicate online with their students.

[idiotgardener]

4. I see a logical reason. It's in your post.

What's the difference if a teacher has a Web page or a Facebook page to communicate with students?

Also, there is a difference between rules and laws. I don't see any reason there should be a law limiting free speech over this.

[Occulus]

6. "Teachers can create their own web pages, easily and free"

Providing a few links to those might be useful for DU teachers.

Just a tip.

[cbdo2007]

15. sure, go to the Google and type in "free web page"

Or talk to your school and see if they already have something like this available.

[alp227]

3. even before facebook that kind of perverted stuff happened,

if you remember Mary Kay Letorneau from the late '90s. Still, I guess I'm OK with this, but I was tempted to ask whether the private prison industry had anything to do with this.

[bhikkhu]

5. In my daughter's high school its the opposite

...on hers sports team, anyway. The coaches require FB accounts and "friending", and monitor for appropriate behavior, language, and behavior, inasmuch as the students publicly represent the school.

Its a little different and potentially abused, but as with anything else it comes down to the people involved. The coaches are very good people. I am a "friend" on her account as well, so would see if anything was fishy.

I don't think its a good idea to legislate barriers between teachers and students. If you don't trust them on facebook, do you trust them face to face at school?

[SheilaT]

7. Requires FB account?

If I still had school age kids I might not want my kids to have a FB account, most especially if it was being used to monitor behavior.

Basically, I'd tell the coach to go fuck himself.

[greymattermom]

8. more than one

it's easy enough to have more than one fb account. my grandson had one when he was 4 years old, for example.

[bhikkhu]

9. Its high school, and I think for two years everyone had one already

so, facebook and internet wasn't a problem for anyone I heard of - they have a team page too. For practice times everyone has cell phones and are texted notices and so forth. Modern times...

Given the high rate of teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and general stupidity, I think more monitoring is better than less. As far as the coaches, they are our near neighbors as well. We don't live in a large town, so we know most of the teachers and they are very approachable as far as issues. It works fine.

[No Elephants]

11. The teachers, coaches and principal represent the school, not the teen students.

So, do you get to monitor their online activity?

And, if this is a public school, the First Amendment is probably being violated.

[bhikkhu]

14. The students are expected to live up to high expectations of behavior

which is fine with me. I have the same expectations of them myself, and a little help from the school is welcome. And of course they represent their school...again, we don't live in a big city, so maybe other perspective are different.

There are nevertheless the same issues here with teen pregnancy, STD's, substance abuse, gangs and so forth, and again I think a little more supervision is better than a little less.

[iamtechus]

10. Unconstitutional and unenforceble n/t

[raebrek]

12. That's what I was thinking too.

But it isn't a law.

Raebrek!!!

[MadinMo]

13. I can sort of understand,

but making it illegal to have a "non work-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or *former student*" is nuts. My kids, recent HS graduates, have friended beloved teachers and I see nothing wrong with that.