Do it the old-fashioned way!

Teachers in Missouri are upset. In the wake of several cases involving teacher/student sex, the legislature has passed a law that requires local school districts to create written policies that outline appropriate use of electronic media such as text messaging and internet sites for both instructional and personal purposes. Any contact must be made in the public sphere rather than through private messages. So teachers can have public Facebook or Twitter, but they can't communicate privately with the students via electronic media.

Teachers are calling foul, but their arguments don't hold water. They say it will hurt their ability to keep in touch with students for classroom purposes, personal problems or emergencies. I say, do it the old-fashioned way -- telephone or email the parent. The teachers say that the private messaging systems are more conducive to the students informing them of problems at home. I say, do it the old-fashioned way -- make sure when they are in the classroom that the students know you will be there at certain hours if they have a need and/or introduce them to the school counselor.

Teachers say they used messaging to track down students in Joplin after the tornado there earlier this year. They don't even have to do this the old-fashioned way. That can be done on a public forum, can't it? In fact, it would probably be much more effective on a public forum.

Any teacher who is really upset with this new legislation probably needs to be looked at very closely. I'll just bet the 87 teachers in Missouri who lost their licenses between 2001 and 2005 because of sexual misconduct wouldn't have liked the law, either.

"Law makes teachers keep distance online." The Dallas Morning News; August 7, 2011; p. 9A.