Controlling student online postings

One of our most thoughtful library/tech leaders here in Minnesota posted this question to a state listserv this morning (used here with permission):

A teacher in the _______ Project has been targeted on a Facebook site. The offending student deleted the page, using his cell phone, while a school administrator was speaking to the class. The teacher is quite upset and contacted me for information in how to proceed.

I am aware of 1st Amendment issues, etc. and of the controversy surrounding what schools can and cannot control, but am wondering what policies folks have in place and how these situations are being resolved.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Do we need additional policies for the read/write web?

I've just been doing a little digging into our standing AUP to see if it covers most Web 2.0-related issues for an article I am writing, and my conclusion is that we do not need additional policies to cover these newer  applications and resources. Our policy already states (bold is mine):

• Users will not use the school district system to transmit or receive obscene, abusive, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening, disrespectful, or sexually explicit language.
• Users will not use the school district system to access, review, upload, download, store, print, post, or distribute materials that use language or images that are inappropriate to the educational setting or disruptive to the educational process and will not post information or materials that could cause damage or danger of disruption.
• Users will not use the school district system to access, review, upload, download, store, print, post, or distribute materials that use language or images that advocate violence or discrimination toward other people (hate literature) or that may constitute harassment or discrimination.
  

But this does NOT cover student off-site behaviors. I do remember from Dangerously Irrelevant Scott McLeod's session at the November 2006 TIES tech conference that schools have lost most cases when they have tried to discipline students for off-site speech issues, no matter how egregious.

There is also a Point/Counterpoint column in this (March) issue of ISTE's Leading & Learning magazine that asks "Should Schools Regulate Offsite Online Behavior?" Nancy Willard argues for schools responding to cyberbulling (but not teacher bashing). Lynn Wietecha asks what can schools "reasonably" do.

My sense is there would need to a strong case made for the "disruptive to the educational process" just like any other student free-speech issue before a district would/should/could step in. A teacher's hurt feelings probably wouldn't qualify (and, yes,  I know that sounds callous.) Remember that I am not a lawyer although I sometimes pretend to be one on the Internet. Sometimes free speech is painful.

Does your district attempt to regulate off-site student speech? And how? 

Comments

[Scott McLeod]

Doug, well said. I think you're correct on all fronts! I agree with Nancy Willard that schools should do something but not necessarily impose formal discipline (which is when they lose the lawsuits). FYI, my cyberbullying slides and podcast from TIES 2006 are here:

http://www.scottmcleod.net/ties2006

[Doug Johnson]

Thanks, Scott. I truly consider you the guru in these areas. I am sure many readers will appreciate the links to your presentation. It was excellent!

All the best,

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

Posted on behalf of Ewan McIntosh.

Punitive measures in school are easy to do and highly inneffective at achieving what we want. Students make mistakes first and we punish later. If we concentrate on prevention through teaching then the punitive measures are still in place for those who really push the boundaries beyond acceptable levels AND we have a better chance of having a significant effect on what
kids do outside school.

In Scotland our curriculum wants confident individuals, effective contributors, responsible citizens and successful learners - that's the WHOLE curriculum, which you can read here:
http://www.acurriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/about/essentialinformation/purposes.asp

In addition to that, Local Authorities, schools and teachers come up with how they are going to do this. In our Local Authority we have come up collaboratively with the first guidelines which do tackle specifically social media:
http://edubuzz.pbwiki.com/eduBuzzSupport

Yes, they are needed, because in the beginning we need to be explicit with people (adults and kids) who do not fully understand the medium in the same way we do.
--
Ewan McIntosh
Learning and Teaching Scotland Futures
The Optima, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow, G2 8DU

b: http://edu. blogs. com
w: http://www.LTScotland.org.uk
(Technorati tag: ltsfutures)

[Doug Johnson]

The following document from my files was done for the South Central Kansas Library System as part of its "Kan-Safe" project. Although its focus is on Kansas, Dr. Aftab's overview offers a comprehensive overview, including federal laws, through 2005. At a minimum, it's useful as a framework for discussion as a school reviews and updates its Internet Use Policy for students and staff.

Dr. Parry Aftab, "Kids Online in Schools: Risk Management and the Law," 2005.
http://kan-safe.info/downloads/KidsOnline.pdf

The document is unpaged, unfortunately, but I suggest going to the "Off-School Websites" section for information about teacher bashing." Included is a useful overview by subject of legal cases involving this type of cyberbullying.

The "Cyberbullying and Schools" section has information about "What is the school's role in this?" The "Social-Networking Websites and Blog Profiles" section also deals with teacher bashing.

Information about the "Kan-safe" project is available at http://kan-safe.info.

Thanks!

Nancy
Nancy Walton, State Library Programs Specialist
State Library Services, Minnesota Department of Education
1500 Highway 36 West Cubicle F31

Note Cubicle F31 above - pretty funny.