Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Having a gazillion Facebook friends may make you cool with the younger demographic, but teachers who "friend" students could end up in hot water under a proposed Internet-use policy unveiled Monday for the Millard school board.
Like many school districts, Millard Public Schools are attempting to draw boundaries between students and teachers in cyberspace.
District officials said they want to allow staff members and teachers to make use of social media for educational purposes, but also want to head off potential trouble in the form of inappropriate fraternization or postings.
"We're treading in new territory" for Millard, board member Mike Pate said.
The policy, given its first reading Monday evening, strongly recommends that teachers do not "friend" students or parents on their personal Facebook pages until the student has been graduated for at least one year.
Friending is electronically asking someone to be your friend on Facebook, and, if accepted, gaining and granting access to each other's page.
The language in the proposal makes it clear that the district would frown on a teacher friending a student, stating that teachers "should" avoid such contact.
However, it doesn't explicitly prohibit such behavior. District spokeswoman Amy Friedman said the language was kept flexible because some teachers friend their own children.
Friedman said no specific incident of Internet misuse prompted the proposal, similar to one the Papillion-La Vista Public Schools adopted two years ago.
The proposed policy also would let teachers set up school-related Facebook pages or make use of other social media, such as Twitter, as long as the district approved.
Currently Millard has no policy governing such media. But employees are covered by a code of conduct, and teachers must abide by the state's standards of professional practice.
Jim Sutfin, assistant superintendent of human resources, said principals realize that some teachers are skilled at using social media and would like to enable them to do so.
A key question before the board Monday was how the district will oversee teachers' professional Facebook pages and other cyber platforms.
Board member Linda Poole, a teacher in the Papillion-La Vista school district, said she operates a page for her class and it's a great way to communicate. It would be appropriate to grant access to the sites by school principals so they can monitor activity on them, she said.
Molly Erickson, president of the Millard Education Association, said the proposed policy appears to be fairly standard and she sees no red flags in it.
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