I like Madeira's language about liability. I added it below the draft
policy for our employee handbook... (most of this language has come from
this ISED community... I hope no one minds; share and share alike.)
Online Conduct
The growing use of the world wide web has blurred the lines between
personal and professional conduct. School personnel should understand
that certain expectations for professional conduct extend into the
personal online world of social networking, blogs, and other
communication tools, especially as regards any mention of our school, or
members of our school community. Personnel should at all times respect
the privacy of our community, and not divulge or post online personally
identifying information about any members of the school community
without permission (e.g. names, addresses, phone numbers, email
addresses, photos, videos, etc.) School personnel must take great care
in any online interactions with students to maintain professional
standards of conduct. Conduct which reflects poorly upon personnel or
the school may be grounds for disciplinary review or action. There are
inherent risks that one takes as an individual when you communicate with
students on social networking sites. You are exposing the school to
potential liability as well as personal liability for any information
that you give or obtain through means outside of the school norms. You
also put yourself in the position of being responsible for rule-breaking
that you observe through the conversations and photographs that you see
on student's pages.
Regards,
Demetri Orlando
BGA
Franklin, TN
ISED Ning: http://isenet.ning.com/
PBL Ning: http://pblnet.ning.com/
ps. don't forget to vote!
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 1:05 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: faculty use of social networking sites
Do any schools have written guidelines regarding faculty's personal use
of social networking sites such as My Space and Facebook? What ethical
guidance do you offer to teachers on friending in cyberspace?
Many thanks,
Marilyn Meyerson
Head, Library and Technology
The Key School
<mmeyerson@keyschool.org>
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