Social media law draws controversy

While Blue Springs High School teacher Sara Crump does not have a Facebook page or a class website, she believes a law that removes a teacher’s ability to communicate with students through such social media sites is limiting to the rights of teachers.

“The in-person, human interaction in a classroom is one of the many joys of teaching. I can’t imagine how a Facebook website could generate that same relationship between a teacher and his or her students,” said the English teacher. “But if teachers use the websites or pages in an academic way to extend the parameters of the classroom and to facilitate learning, I can see that they could be beneficial.”

The main purpose of the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, approved by the Missouri Legislature during the 2011 session, is not to limit teachers’ Facebook use. Instead it includes a variety of provisions that will help to protect students from sexual misconduct. This includes requiring reports of sexual misconduct by a teacher or employee to be sent to the Department of Social Services within 24 hours; requiring annual background checks of teachers; requiring immediate suspension of school employees after complaints of sexual misconduct have been proven and requiring school districts to disclose proven allegations of sexual misconduct to another school district that is inquiring about hiring that employee.

However, it is the electronic media portion of the bill that has been controversial among teachers and school districts for the last few weeks. It would require school districts to create a policy by January that addresses electronic communications between school employees and students. Specifically, it would forbid communication between current or former students age 18 or younger and teachers through electronic media. That includes social networking sites such as Facebook, text messages and emails. The idea is to prevent potentially inappropriate conversations.

A lawsuit was filed by the Missouri State Teachers Association Aug. 19 challenging the constitutionality of the electronic media portion of the bill, which stopped the law from going into effect. Gov. Jay Nixon has also asked the General Assembly repeal the social media portion of the bill during a special session that started Tuesday.

“In a digital world, we must recognize that social media can be an important tool for teaching and learning. At the same time, we must be vigilant about threats posed to students through the Internet and other means,” Nixon said in a press release. “Because of confusion and concern among educators, students and families over this specific provision of Senate Bill 54, I will ask the General Assembly to repeal that particular section, while preserving other vital protections included in the bill.”

Fort Osage Superintendent Mark Enderle said he believes a majority of the bill is positive. Although not a “Facebook guy” himself, he said the teacher-student communication portion has cast too wide a net.

“What is truly galling about the Amy Hestir Act is that by inference, it throws a blanket of blame over all teachers. In order to target the few who shouldn’t be around students, the act punishes us all, and forces us to change how we operate,” Enderle said. “Given the era in which we live, class pages are a great way to communicate with today’s students. I am also certain that any parent should have a right to access these pages if they so desire.”

Independence Superintendent Jim Hinson said Facebook continues to be blocked on all district computers for both teachers and students. While there is no policy currently in place, he said it has long been recommended that teachers do not communicate privately with students through sites such as Facebook.

“Many of our teachers have their own web pages, not through Facebook, but through our district website, which allows for (one-way) communication with parents and students,” he said. “As this law was working its way through the legislature, attorneys were predicting that this would be challenged and quite possibly overturned.”

Mindy Nix, president of the Independence National Education Association, said limiting electronic communication between teachers and students will not “protect” students from sexual abuse. She said school districts should be able to create a policy in conjunction with teachers that applies to the situation.

“The law has some valuable provisions which protect students, but I felt it would limit valuable teacher/student communication,” she said. “This flaw regarding electronic communication needs to be fixed in order to continue growing in our ever-changing technological world. Missouri NEA has always maintained that the only appropriate long-term fix is a legislative fix, not a court ordered fix. Missouri NEA has been the only organization to communicate with Senator (Jane) Cunningham the changes that need to be made and is taking the lead drafting language and pursuing legislative fix for the upcoming special session.”

Cunningham, who was the leader behind the bill, has said that while she believes it is constitutional, the section relating to communication policies between teacher and students has led to confusion. She said in a recent release that she “welcomes the opportunity to clarify and remove any ambiguity in the law.”

Enderle said while the Facebook portion of the bill concerns him, it is not the most worrisome part. He said what concerns him more is that the law will limit a district’s ability to investigate alleged misconduct.

“If a student goes to Dr. (Jason) Snodgrass with a complaint that Mr. John Smith has inappropriately touched her, it would now be illegal for Dr. Snodgrass to conduct his own investigation. Jason would be required to make a hotline call to DFS (Division of Family Services), but could not investigate the matter himself,” he said. “According to the Amy Hestir Act, the district cannot conduct an investigation for purpose of determining whether the allegation is substantiated. The clear inference is that schools do not have enough integrity to police themselves; (that we) would rather allow sexual offenders to teach our students than make certain our children are learning in a safe and protected environment. That’s a pretty insulting point of view.”

Enderle said he would like to see the law changed so that it focuses on its original intent, requiring school districts to communicate with each other on teacher misconduct. He said limiting communication through electronic media “will do nothing” to protect students from sexual abuse.

“Evil will fine a way. It always does. If someone is prone to preying on students, this act will do nothing to deter them. It would take little effort to create false accounts to use Facebook under an alias. Likewise for texting or emails,” he said. “I think there is benefit to the part in which districts are required to share information about teachers who have had sexual misconduct issues. Frankly, this is something that should have been taking place all along, and I would be very disappointed to learn if there were any more recent examples of what happened to Amy Hestir 30 years ago.”