National. ‘Teachers are fed up’ with online abuse

Students argue and threaten one another on the site. Students insult or lie about teachers and principals. Teachers insult students. Teachers insult other teachers.

Social media is a turbulent area in school law right now,” Tomberlin said. “But we can’t monitor what is communicated on social media websites outside of our schools.”

A recent case involving a student’s derogatory video about a Glenn High School teacher and coach is leading to hot debate over school district policies on social media abuse.

“Teachers are fed up,” said Tripp Jeffers, president of the Forsyth County Association of Educators. “They have a great deal of fear. Anybody can accuse a teacher of anything on Facebook, which can immediately cause a climate of hysteria that threatens a teacher’s job. I can’t think of any other profession where this kind of fear exists.”

Many teachers feel that because of Facebook, “their job is on the line every day,” Jeffers said. “It’s absolutely frightening.”

On Thursday afternoon, the district’s Staff Policy Committee met, with this topic as an agenda item. The meeting, which was not open to the public or the media, was attended by Jeffers, who argued that students should be punished if they threaten, abuse or make false statements about their teachers or principals online.

The legal standard established by the courts on whether the district can discipline a student for something he says or posts is that the words pose a “substantial disruption to the school day,” said Tomberlin, who serves as a co-chairwoman of the policy committee.

Obviously this is an issue that is not going away anytime soon and it will be interesting to see what the various legislatures and courts do in response to balance the rights of the respective parties with freedom of speech.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/jan/21/wsmet01-teachers-are-fed-up-with-online-abuse-ar-712471/

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