On Jan. 13, the Virginia Board of Education will vote on a measure to discourage school teachers from using Facebook or text messaging to communicate with students.
The measures are included in a report titled “Guidelines for the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct and Abuse in Virginia Public Schools.” According to the report, there have been 120 instances involving sexual misconduct of minors addressed by the Board since 2000.
As stated in the proposed guidelines, a model policy for schools to adopt would decree that “teachers and other employees may not use personal wireless communications devices to ‘text’ students.” In addition to text messaging, teachers would also be “prohibited from interacting one-on-one with students through personal online social-networking sites.”
In the event that a student sends a “friend request” to a school employee on a social networking site, the employee would have to “decline or disregard” the request.
The guidelines specify steps that should be taken if either variety of communication occurs, requiring that “the date, time, and nature of the contact must be reported in writing [by the school employee] to his or her supervisor on the next school day.”
According to Julie Grimes, the communications manager for the Virginia Department of Education, the Board is expected to vote on the proposal on Jan. 13, but said, “I would not begin to speculate on how the board will vote.” If approved by the Board of Education, schools would be encouraged to adopted the policy.
