|
|
|
Members of the Neosho R-5 School Board approved a modified version of their staff and student relations policy at the school board meeting held Tuesday night in the Neosho Administrative Center.
The policy must be in accordance with Missouri Senate Bill 1, which passed in September. The bill amended the online communication portion of the 2011 bill, Senate Bill 54, also known as the Amy Hestir Law, which prohibited teachers from interacting with students on social networking sites, such as Facebook.
The Missouri School Board Association’s policy GBH addresses appropriate communication between students and staff via text message, email and social networking sites. The MSBA sent a recommended modified policy to each district in the state. School districts are required by state law to approve a policy by March 1.
Though the Neosho R-5 school board voted unanimously to approve the MSBA’S recommended modifications, some board members are not entirely pleased with the wording of the revisions.
Board president Lynn Otey said though the board had accepted the policy Tuesday night, board member Brett Day, who is also an attorney, would review aspects of the policy that board members had concerns with, and the board would consider modifying those parts.
“This is their policy, their guide for us to use,” Otey said. “If Brett would look at that section, and give his input on what he would modify and then, we would want him to bring that back to us and share. We’ll go ahead and we’ll approve this revised policy tonight and then go back.”
Of the board members, Day seemed to express the most concern Tuesday night. He noted that based on the language of the revised policy, a teacher with a child in the school district would be prohibited from giving their child’s friend a ride home, or allowing their child to have a sleepover with a friend from school.
“I’m worried that this is going to have a bit of a chilling effect on one of the positive things that come out of school, which is developing the teacher, student relationship,” Day said.
The recommended policy discourages electronic communication between students and staff for any reason other than educational purposes. The policy states that appropriate electronic communication may only take place between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Staff members are required to use school provided devices and accounts to engage in electronic communication with students, unless otherwise approved by a supervisor, and in which case, access to school provided accounts is unavailable. In that situation, parents or guardians would need to be notified beforehand that that form of communication could take place.
Members of the Neosho R-5 School Board approved a modified version of their staff and student relations policy at the school board meeting held Tuesday night in the Neosho Administrative Center.
The policy must be in accordance with Missouri Senate Bill 1, which passed in September. The bill amended the online communication portion of the 2011 bill, Senate Bill 54, also known as the Amy Hestir Law, which prohibited teachers from interacting with students on social networking sites, such as Facebook.
The Missouri School Board Association’s policy GBH addresses appropriate communication between students and staff via text message, email and social networking sites. The MSBA sent a recommended modified policy to each district in the state. School districts are required by state law to approve a policy by March 1.
Though the Neosho R-5 school board voted unanimously to approve the MSBA’S recommended modifications, some board members are not entirely pleased with the wording of the revisions.
Board president Lynn Otey said though the board had accepted the policy Tuesday night, board member Brett Day, who is also an attorney, would review aspects of the policy that board members had concerns with, and the board would consider modifying those parts.
“This is their policy, their guide for us to use,” Otey said. “If Brett would look at that section, and give his input on what he would modify and then, we would want him to bring that back to us and share. We’ll go ahead and we’ll approve this revised policy tonight and then go back.”
Of the board members, Day seemed to express the most concern Tuesday night. He noted that based on the language of the revised policy, a teacher with a child in the school district would be prohibited from giving their child’s friend a ride home, or allowing their child to have a sleepover with a friend from school.
“I’m worried that this is going to have a bit of a chilling effect on one of the positive things that come out of school, which is developing the teacher, student relationship,” Day said.
The recommended policy discourages electronic communication between students and staff for any reason other than educational purposes. The policy states that appropriate electronic communication may only take place between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Staff members are required to use school provided devices and accounts to engage in electronic communication with students, unless otherwise approved by a supervisor, and in which case, access to school provided accounts is unavailable. In that situation, parents or guardians would need to be notified beforehand that that form of communication could take place.
The policy also states that students are not allowed to ride in the personal vehicle of a staff member, unless a parent or guardian is present. Staff are also forbidden from being alone with a student in a room with a closed, or locked door, or where the lights are turned off, and from inviting the children to the staff member’s home.
The policy does provide exceptions to the rules for the relationship between teachers and their children, stepchildren or other children living in the staff member’s home.
“It looks like to me the pendulum has swung a little too far in some areas,” Day said.
Chris Parks, school board vice-president, said though he does not see a benefit to a student and staff member having any communication via social networking sites, such as Facebook, there are aspects of the policy changes that need to be looked at.
“I don’t see anything positive about a teacher interacting with a student on Facebook,” Parks said. “If we’re going to go electronic down the road, then we better set the precedent pretty quick.”
Dr. Richard Page, superintendent, recommended the passage of the policy changes. He said the main purpose of the policy is to prevent inappropriate communications between staff and students, though he recognized that there are several parts of the policy that may raise questions.
“You can pick it apart and find things that are going to be probably legitimate questions,” Page said. “I think there’s going to be exceptions to almost every little piece, and you have to use common sense when making determinations about what is acceptable and what is not.”
“If we want to dictate behavior, we need to be clear in what we’re trying to dictate,” Day said. “As far as the electronic contact on social media and websites, the stuff that’s in here makes perfect sense. I’m afraid that we’ve gone a little bit too far, and I don’t want us to start taking the attitude that we’re looking at everybody with suspicious eyes. For one, our teachers deserve better than that. We do things to protect the kids.”
After Day reviews the policy changes, the board is expected to look at making their own modifications to the policy.
• • •
For more on Tuesday’s school board meeting, see Thursday’s edition of the Neosho Daily News.
