Teachers post with care on Facebook

By Kathy Chaffin

kchaffin@salisburypost.com

Rowan-Salisbury and Kannapolis City school officials say their staffs receive training on what is — and what isn't — appropriate social networking on the Internet.

"We talk about this quite a bit," says Delores Morris, assistant superintendent for human resources in the Rowan-Salisbury School System.

And just in case they need reminding of the possible consequences of inappropriate postings on Facebook or Myspace, she says administrators and principals will bring up cases from other counties. "We use those as examples of what can happen," she says.

A Wake County eighth-grade teacher was suspended recently after reacting angrily on her Facebook page, saying that she was subjected to a "hate crime" by Christian students. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Feb. 16 that Melissa Hussain was suspended with pay while investigators review her case. Parents objected to comments on the teacher's Facebook page about her conflict with Christian students.

Morris says the local school system addresses inappropriate social networking in its Internet and the Educational Program policy, as well as the educators' ethics code.

The Internet policy states in part: "No user of the Internet and/network, including a person sending or receiving electronic communications, may engage in creating, intentionally accessing or transmitting images, documents or other material that is disruptive of the school environment, obscene, defamatory, pornographic, harassing or considered to be harmful to minors."

Kannapolis policy

The Kannapolis City Schools' policy on appropriate Internet use also addresses social networking: "While the Board of Education respects the right of employees and students to use social-networking sites to communicate with others, any postings referencing Kannapolis City Schools shall always be professional and respectful of the school system, Kannapolis City Schools employees, parents and students."

Ellen Boyd, community relations director for the school system, says the policy was updated last March to include social media issues. "So I think we're ahead of the game in terms of working with our students and staff on appropriate use of Internet tools."

Boyd says she is not aware of any staff posting inappropriate material on social-networking sites. Like Rowan-Salisbury schools, she says, Kannapolis City administrators and principals make staff aware of cases of inappropriate Internet use in other systems.

New teachers

Morris says new teachers in the Rowan-Salisbury schools are trained on the appropriate use of social networking upon hiring and that principals review the Internet policies at the beginning of every school year.

There have been a few complaints of inappropriate postings on social-networking site, she says, "and we have immediately addressed them."

"What we actually look at is their profile pages, and if there is anything unprofessional on there," Morris says, "we call them in, talk to them and most of them have been very agreeable to taking it off ... No one's actually lost their job for it, but there has been professional action taken."

Morris says school officials don't have to randomly check staff social-networking sites. "We hear the complaints almost as soon as they're put up. Word of mouth gets to us pretty quickly."

One incident of inappropriate social networking involved a student, Morris says. "There was a student saying some things to the teacher," she says, "and then the teacher was retaliating ... We talked to the student and the teacher."

Rowan-Salisbury administrators are considering tightening the social-networking section of the Internet policy. "There's more use of it out there than there used to be," she says, "so I think we need to just caution them."

Dr. Jamie Durant, principal at West Rowan High School, says he reviews appropriate social-networking postings at the beginning of each school year with all the other personnel policies.

"We let them know that it's all public information and anything that they put out there is available to the public," he says. "We've got a fairly young staff, and I think they're all engaged in Facebook and all those types of things."

When cases of inappropriate social networking come up in other counties, Durant says, "it's always a teaching opportunity for us to go back and remind them to be conscious of those issues that can sometimes land them in hot water."

Durant says he has not dealt with any cases of staff making inappropriate postings on social-networking sites since he has been principal at West High.

From time to time, he says a parent will inform school officials of a student making inappropriate postings about another student. "We'll try to get with the student and resolve it," he says. "A lot of it's outside issues, but we may attempt to resolve it so it doesn't spill over into the school.

"We take kind of a proactive approach to this."

Lea Anne Thomas, Mount Ulla Elementary principal, says she discusses social networking at her opening staff meeting every year.

"I tell them that I love Facebook," she says. "I have my virtual family on Facebook, but anything I post is personal. It's about my family. It's about my kids. It's about what we did on the weekend.

"In this business, you have to have a clear distinction between your professional and your personal life, particularly when you're putting it out on a public forum like that."

Clearcut line

Thomas says it's important for people to not put anything on a social-networking site that they wouldn't want in the newspaper or out there for anybody to read.

Even if they make their social-networking pages private, she says there is a risk that someone could read it. "You don't want to say anything about your classes or students or a coworker that's negative," she says, "or even if it's positive. There needs to be that clearcut line between personal and professional."

Thomas also uses incidents in other school systems as reminders for her staff.

"I think our professionals need to realize that what they say and do out there is watched," Thomas says. "They are held as leaders in the community and what we say and do even outside of our professional lives are sometimes under watch."

Call Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.