“Why Can’t We Be Friends?”: Protecting Students and Staff when using Social Media

1. “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”:Protecting Students and Staff when using Social Media CASPA Conference October 2, 2015

2. Social Media Defined Academy District 20 “Social media refers to interaction in which people create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in a virtual or online environment.”

3. Online Interactive Communications

4. TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIAhttp://bit.ly/1sRe2nI • Social Networking • Micro-Blogging • Publishing Tools • Collaboration Tools • Rating Review Sites • Photo Sharing • Facebook, Google+ • Twitter, Tumblr • WordPress Blogger • Wikipedia, WikiBooks • Amazon, Angie's List • Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest

5. MORE SOCIAL MEDIA • Video Sharing • Personal Broadcasting • Virtual/Interactive Worlds • Location Based Services • News Aggregation • Group Buying • YouTube, Vimeo • uStream, LiveStream • Second Life, World of Warcraft, Farmville • Foursquare, Yelp • Digg, Delicious, Scoop It • Living Social, Groupon

6. The Pew Research Center's TeensRelationship Survey 2015

7. The Pew Research Center's TeensRelationship Survey 2015

8. Social Media as defined in DPS policy EGB: “Social Media is defined as media based on the use of web and mobile technologies that allow for user-generated exchanges of information. With proper administration, social media can foster collaboration and communication as an interactive dialogue, enhancing the value of conversations across a global audience.”

9. DPS Definitions • Professional Social Media is a work-related social media activity that can be either school based (e.g., a district principal establishing a social networking page for his/her school, or a teacher establishing a social media site for his/her class), or non-school-based (e.g., a district office establishing a social networking page to communicate with the larger district community). • Personal Social Media use is a non-work-related social media activity (e.g. a district employee establishing a social networking page for his/her personal use).

10. Staff Expectations “Staff members are expected to serve as positive role models at all times and must represent their school and district professionally at all times.” (D20 Policy GBEE E 1) 

11. Trusting Educators

12. NEA STATEMENT The profession is vestedby the public with a trust and responsibilityrequiring the highest idealsof professional service

13. Would you say it face to face? Does Social Media provide a false sense of anonymity?

14. Legal Considerations Many legal issues have not yet been settled by the court system, so it is very important for school districts to have clear guidelines in place.

15. Legal Considerations First Amendment rights: School district personnel are free to express themselves as private citizens on social media sites to the degree that their speech does not negatively affect the public perception of the school district.

16. Pickering v. Board of Education • In this seminal case, the Supreme Court held that it’s not a First Amendment violation to dismiss probationary teachers for what they say or write, if their speech involves merely personal things (as contrasted with broader social/political issues of the day), or if the speech might disturb the workplace.

17. Pickering • An Illinois teacher, Marvin Pickering, was dismissed for sending a letter to the editor of his local newspaper criticizing the school board's handling of a bond proposal and its funding allocation between athletics and educational programs.

18. Pickering’s letter to the editor • “Dear Editor: I enjoyed reading the back issues of your paper which you loaned to me. Perhaps others would enjoy reading them to see just how far the two new high schools have deviated from the original promises by the Board of Education.” • “. . . do you know that the superintendent told the teachers, and I quote, “Any teacher that opposes the referendum should be prepared for the consequences.” I think this gets at the reason we have problems passing bond issues. Threats take something away; these are insults to voters in a free society. We should try to sell a program on its merits, if it has any.”

19. Pickering • "Teachers are, as a class, the members of a community most likely to have informed and definite opinions as to how funds allotted to the operation of the schools should be spent. Accordingly, it is essential that they be able to speak out freely on such questions without fear of retaliatory dismissal."

20. Legal Considerations Speech on or off-duty, made pursuant to school district employees’ official duties, is not protected speech under the First Amendment and may form the basis for discipline if detrimental to the school district.

21. A word to the wise Teachers have been suspended or removed for MySpace postings in states including Colorado, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and Massachusetts.

22. Career Decision in Virginia • The parent of a six year old first grader in Prince William complained to school officials when he found a substitute teacher’s risqueMySpace page. • The teacher’s page includes a painting of a young woman lifting up her dress, exposing her lingerie, and another showing her bare chest. The teacher was eventually removed from her position.

23. Connecticut • Connecticut teacher Jeffrey Spanierman was fired because of two cyber conversations with students on his MySpace page. In one posting, he teased a student about his girlfriend, and the student responded, “don’t be jealous cause you can’t get any lol:)” Spanierman replied: “What makes you think I want any? I'm not jealous. I just like to have fun and goof on you guys. If you don't like it. Kiss my brass! LMAO.” He also jokingly threatened another student with lifelong detention for calling him “sir.”

24. Federal Court decision • A federal court ruled that Spanierman’s termination didn’t violate the First Amendment because his speech “was likely to disrupt school activities.” The court faulted the teacher for failing “to maintain a professional, respectful association with students” and for communicating with students “as if he were their peer, not their teacher.” Such conduct, “could very well disrupt the learning atmosphere of a school,” the court said.

25. Would you call your administrator a “smug know it-all creep?” • Tara Richardson (no relation) was a mentor for beginning teachers who sued the Central Kitsap (Washington) School District claiming that she was demoted because of comments she posted on a personal blog. She described one administrator as “a smug know-it-all creep” who has “a reputation of crapping on secretaries….”A federal appeals court rejected her First Amendment argument, finding that her nasty, personal comments interfered with her job because they “fatally undermined her ability to enter into confidential and trusting mentor relationships” with beginning teachers.

26. “Drunken Pirate” in PA Pennsylvania college senior Stacey Snyder was dismissed from her student teaching position because of “unprofessional” postings on her MySpace site, which she urged her students to visit. Her site included comments criticizing her supervisor and a photograph of her wearing a pirate hat and drinking from a plastic cup with the caption “drunken pirate.”

27. Think before you post • Because she did not complete her student-teaching practicum, Snyder was forced to graduate with a degree in English instead of Education. The lack of student-teaching experience also prevented her from applying for a Pennsylvania teaching certificate. • Snyder sued, but a federal court found no First Amendment violation.

28. You Be the Judge Applying the Pickering case, the court ruled that her MySpace postings dealt only with purely personal matters, not issues of public concern.

29. Facebook Firing Case: DHS worker in Oregon posted messages on her Facebook page, including: “If you physically abuse your child, someone should physically abuse you . . . If you don’t like my rules, too bad. I have a Ph.D., and you don’t, so I get to make up my own imaginary rules.”

30. Facebook Firing Case: Her Facebook friends, including a defense attorney and a Circuit Court judge, saw the postings. A DHS manager forwarded them to an HR manager at DHS. Deputy DA testified that her Facebook musings would likely hamper current and future cases and would reflect adversely on DHS in the local community.

31. Special Challenges for Teachers "Perhaps nowhere is the line more blurred than for teachers. On one hand, social media can be a valuable tool for learning and connecting with students and parents; on the other, it can invite inappropriate behavior and misuse."Read more at http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/01/15/report-most-teachers-use-social-media-worry-it-will-cause-conflict.aspx#DHijBYPlrmFADpW2.99

32. What Academy D20 is doing: • Parent Academy • Social Media ethics class (summer institute and new teacher induction) • Digital citizenship for students (classroom instruction) • Policy

33. Academy D20Social Media Guidelines “When using social media, such as Facebook , Academy District 20 employees should always consider whether what is posted will in any way impair their professional effectiveness or reputation. Staff should not use Facebook or other social media to cultivate a non-professional relationship with students. Staff should adhere to the following guidelines* when using any type of social media for educational reasons:

34. Do not use your personal page to interact with students; establish a public page. • Be mindful of the information you post. • Online behavior should reflect the same standards as those used for face-to-face communications. Remember that deleted information may be stored and retrieved indefinitely, while information marked “private” rarely is, and may be forwarded easily, even by someone you trust. • Ensure that content reflects and is consistent with the work you do for your district. Once you identify yourself as a school or district employee, or former employee, you are automatically connected with colleagues nationwide, and are identified with the school or district. • Represent your school or district professionally at all times. • Do not assume students understand appropriate online behavior. They will need to be taught. • Don’t use email, text messaging, instant messaging, or social networking sites to discuss non-school-related issues with students. Homework, class activities, athletics, extracurricular activities, parent nights, choral concerts, and other school activities represent appropriate topics of discussion. Keep relationships with students professional at all times. • Respect student and employee privacy rights and laws. Do not comment on confidential student matters on social networks. • Do not violate co-workers’ privacy. Professionals have tough conversations face to face and in the appropriate settings. Social media sites are not the appropriate venue in which to work out issues or air grievances.

35. View online content, including social media, as an extension of your physical classroom or building. If it’s not appropriate in the classroom or out in the open at school, it’s not appropriate online, either. • Consider searching your name online and monitor what others are saying and posting about you. Even your friends and family can post and tag (i.e., identify you by name) photos you would never consider making public. If that happens, either ask the person to remove the offending photo or make it clear that you don’t support its publication. • Identify yourself as a school employee. Don’t post comments anonymously or try to hide your role. • Fact-check information for accuracy before posting or sending it to another person. • Share ideas in a respectful manner. Share expertise, and write in a conversational style that sounds as if you and another friend are chatting at the dinner table. • Communications may be considered public records and may be subject to disclosure under the Colorado Open Records Act. • * Adapted from the Social Media Guidelines Wiki (http://socialmediaguidelines.pbworks.com), 2011.

36. From Guideline to Policy Included in Policy GBEE Staff Acceptable Use Agreement of the Internet and Electronic Communications (GBEE E 1) Includes the normal acceptable use clauses (Blocking and Filtering, No expectation of Privacy, public records…etc. We added: Unauthorized and unacceptable uses Staff members shall use district computers, computer systems, and networks in a responsible, professional, efficient, ethical, and legal manner. Staff shall not “friend” (or otherwise invite) students to join their personal social media sites and must not accept “friend” invitations from students.

37. Use of social media Social media refers to interaction in which people create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in a virtual or online environment. Staff members may use social media within school district guidelines for instructional purposes, including promoting communications with students, parents/guardians, and the community concerning school related activities and for purposes of supplementing classroom instruction. As with any other instructional material, the application/platform and content shall be appropriate to the student's age, understanding, and range of knowledge. Staff members are expected to serve as positive role models at all times and must represent their school and district professionally at all times. All off-campus expression on social media that is made pursuant to a staff member’s official job duties is subject to this policy. Staff may not use a personal social media account to interact with students in their capacity as an Academy School District 20 staff member. If staff chooses to use social media to communicate with students, they should establish a separate public professional social media account. Staff members shall not use email, text messaging, instant messaging, or social networking sites to discuss non-school related issues with students. Staff members are expected to protect the health, safety, and emotional well-being of students and to preserve the integrity of the learning environment. Online or electronic conduct that distracts or disrupts the learning environment or other conduct in violation of this or related district policies may form the basis for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal from employment.

38. Denver Public Social Media Policy Professional Social Media Use Employees who engage in strictly personal social media activities must maintain separate professional and personal email addresses, and may not use their professional email address for personal social media activities. All communications through professional social media tools must remain professional and appropriate, and employees should maintain no expectation of privacy with respect to thosecommunications. Employees must obtain their supervisor’s approval prior to engaging in a professional social media presence. Supervisors and their designees are responsible for ensuring access to of all professional social media accounts within their school or department, via log-in information and/or administrators’ rights when possible. Professional social media communications should be in compliance with existing DPS Board Policies and department procedures or directives, including prohibitions on the disclosure of confidential information, and prohibitions on the use of harassing, obscene, discriminatory, defamatory, or threatening language. No confidential or proprietary information about students or staff may be posted by District employees on social media sites without securing appropriate permission.

39. New York City Department of Education E. Personal Social Media Use 1. Communication with DOE Students In order to maintain a professional and appropriate relationship with students, DOE employees should not communicatewith students who arecurrently enrolled in DOE schools on personal social media sites. DOE employees’ communication with DOE students via personal social media is subject to the following exceptions: (a) communication with relatives and (b) if an emergency situation requires such communication, in which case the DOE employee should notify his/her supervisor of the contact as soon as possible.”

40. Social Media and Student Benefits

41. Social Media in the Classroom • 21st C Learning • BYOD • Blended Learning • Flipped Classroom • Clubs/Committees • Edmodo, Schoology, Facebook, etc.

42. 12 Ways Teachers are Using Social Media • Tweet or post status updates as a class.. • Write blog posts about what students are learning. • Let your students write for the world.  • Connect to other classrooms through social media.  • Use Facebook to get feedback for your students' online science fair projects. • Use YouTube for your students to host a show or a podcast. • Create Twitter accounts for a special interest projects • Ask questions to engage your students in authentic learning.  • Communicate with other classrooms. • Create projects with other teachers • Share your learning with the world • Further a cause that you care about. A Guidebook for Social Media, Vicki Davis

43. Social Media in the Classroom • Connections • Interaction/Communal • Sharing • Web Engagement • Online presence • Interact with peers and teachers • Knowledge • Information Literacy • Analyze, Evaluate • DIY • Social Media Marketing • Work Force Readiness

44. Contact Information Shelley Kooser Chief Information Officer shelley.kooser@asd20.org Patricia Richardson Director of Legal Relations patricia.richardson@asd20.org Christine Schein Educational Technology and Information Literacy Specialist christine.schein@asd20.org