Electronic Mediaand

the Teacher

Overview• Background

– Types of social media and their use• Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

• Issues for teachers– Personal use pitfalls

• Pickering v. Board of Education two-prong test• Examples

– Good advice• Issues for students

– Social media– Sexting– Cyber-bullying

• More than 300 million active users• More than 40 million status updates

posted daily• More than 14 million videos and

two billion photos uploaded every month• More than two billion pieces of content

(web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos) shared every week

Sample Facebook Pages

• Microblogging tool for quick, frequent messages

• Answer the question, “What are you doing?” by sending short text messages (maximum 140 characters called “tweets”)

• You “follow” and are “followed”• Immediate information• Search by hashtag (#) or keyword

AFL-CIO is tweeting.

• Premier destination to watch and share original videos through the World Wide Web

• Allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs and e-mail

• First-hand accounts of current events, clips from news/TV shows, hobbies and interests, and the quirky and unusual

IFT on YouTube.

IFT History Part Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Me7hjyRVd0

IFT History Part IIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwHB7PB1qik&feature=related

Other Teacher Items on YouTube

Times are changing.

• Percent of adults who:– visit social networking sites 50%– read blogs 39%– contribute to discussion groups 23%– upload photos for website sharing 37%

• Four out of five adults of all ages now use social media, including blogs and social networks.

Source: Forrester Research, New York Times

Have you used any social networking tools– for personal use?– for work?– for union communications?

Show of hands please…

Issues for Teachers:What about my free speech?• In short:

Teacher = Public EmployeePublic Employee = Limited Free Speech

• Public employers (aka school districts and the state) can restrict the speech of their employees

• There are limits to the employer’s ability to restrict employee speech

• BUT, limits on the employer are narrowly applied by the courts

The Pickering Two-Prong Test

• Pickering v. Board of Education (1968)– Pickering was a Local 604 member terminated

for sending letters to the editor that criticized the school district and the superintendent• Failure to advocate for a referendum and• Spending more money on athletics than academics

• Termination ruled unconstitutional– Pickering two-prong test

1. Employee speaking as a citizen on a matter of public concern

2. If citizen and matter of public concern, then the court balances the employee and employer’s interests

Application

Employer has ability to restrict speech of public employee UNLESS1. Speaking as a citizen and topic is matter of public concern

– Citizen means not as employee and not part of official duties– Public concern does not include a matter of purely personal interest– Online speech will very rarely be of a public concern

2. If individual is speaking as a citizen on a matter of public concern, ONLY THEN will the court balance the employee’s free speech interest against the employer’s interest in efficiently providing services– In the school setting, this may include:

• efficient operation of the school• good relations between co-workers• good rapport between teachers and students

– Speaker’s interest will rarely outweigh the employer’s interests

Example: Richerson v. Beckon

• Richerson was curriculum specialist• Job requirements included engaging in

trusting mentor relationships with less experienced teachers in order to give them honest, critical and private feedback

• Richerson started a blog and wrote very personal, scathing comments about her employer, fellow teachers and union representatives

The PostSave us White Boy!

I met with the new me today: the person who will take my summer work and make it a full-time year-round position. I was on the interview committee for this job and this guy was my third choice ... and a reluctant one at that. I truly hope that I have to eat my words about this guy.... But after spending time with this guy today, I think Boss Lady 2.0 made the wrong call in hiring him ... He comes across as a smug know-it-all creep. And that's probably the nicest way I can describe him.... He has a reputation of crapping on secretaries and not being able to finish tasks on his own.... And he's white. And male. I know he can't help that, but I think the District would have done well to recruit someone who has other connections to the community.... Mighty White Boy looks like he's going to crash and burn

The Result

• Richerson was involuntarily transferred from curriculum specialist back into a classroom teaching position

• Transfer OK’d by court– Comments DID NOT involve a matter of public

concern AND, even if they did…• “legitimate administrative interests” of the school

district outweighed Richerson’s right of free speech• few teachers would enter into a confidential and

trusting relationship with Richerson

Example: Spanierman v. Hughes

• Spanierman was a non-tenured high school teacher with a MySpace page– Said purpose was to “communicate with

students about homework, to learn more about the students so he could relate to them better, and to conduct casual, non-school-related discussions.”

• Colleague reported Spanierman’s page to administrators– Nude photos with inappropriate comments– Nature of personal conversations with

students

The Conversations – One Example

• Spanierman: “Repko and Ashley sittin in a tree.K I S S I N G. 1st comes love then comes marriage. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL”

• Student: “dont be jealous cuase you cant get any lol :)”

• Spainerman: “What makes you think I want any? I’m not jealous. I just like to have fun and goof on you guys. If you don’t like it. Kiss my brass! LMAO”

The Result

• Spanierman’s contract wasn’t renewed because of the content on MySpace

• Court upheld school’s action– Spanierman not required to have MySpace

profile– Content on MySpace was purely personal– So, no balancing of interests

• If balancing required:– Spanierman’s actions “undermined his

professional rapport and authority with students”

Example: The Drunken Pirate

• Snyder v. Millersville University• Stacy Snyder was given a failing grade in

her student teaching practicum after her placement school found the following photo titled “drunken pirate” and questionable post on her MySpace profile

• Snyder was denied her teaching degree but was allowed to transfer all of her credits to English credits in order to graduate

The Post

“First, Bree said that one of my students was on here looking at my page, which isfine. I have nothing to hide. I am over 21, and I don't say anything that will hurtme (in the long run). Plus, I don't think that they would stoop that low as to messwith my future. So, bring on the love! I figure a couple of students will actuallysend me a message when I am no longer their official teacher. They keep askingme why I won't apply there. Do you think it would hurt me to tell them the realreason (or who the problem was)?”

The Result

• Two issues:– placement school action– university action

• The placement school was allowed to essentially terminate Snyder because student teachers are regarded as teachers (aka public employees) under the law

• Court found that university did not violate Snyder’s First Amendment rights by denying degree

Additional Examples

• Shaver v. Davie County Public Schools– Bus driver terminated because of wife’s explicit

website; alleged that he suggested students visit the site

– Court found that speech didn’t involve a matter of public concern

• Reporter details teachers’ posts– Reporter searched for school employees with

social networking profiles– Teacher had posted, “I am teaching in the most

ghetto school in Charlotte.”– Teacher was suspended– Other teachers were also disciplined for posts

Additional Examples

• $92,000/year teacher fired over FB– Called residents of town “arrogant and snobby”

and said, “so not looking forward to another year at Cohasset schools.”

– “Now I remember why I stopped teaching kids. They are all germ bags.”

• Teacher settles after photo of her with stripper posted on FB– No lawsuit filed, but ACLU involved– $10k to ACLU and $4k in backpay to teacher– 30-day suspension reduced to 19 days– Co-worker posted the picture; picture was online

less than one day

RecapCitizen + Matter of Public Concern

Protected if Employee’s Interests Outweigh the Employer’s Interest

Employee + Official DutyNot Protected

Individual + Personal InterestNot Protected

Good Advice for Teachers

• DO– use privacy settings to keep your information

as private as possible– treat everything you post as potentially

public– use web searches to find information posted

about you by others• If you find something, print a copy (the online

version may disappear)

• DON’T– post anything offensive– friend your students– use your full name as your username

Student Issues• Social Networking

– Student off-campus, on-line speech protected• Student created FB page titled, “Ms. Sarah Phelps is

the worst teacher I’ve ever met!”• Student created mock MySpace profile of principal

saying that he took drugs and kept beer in his desk– Student off-campus, on-line speech not

protected• Student mocked principal with fake MySpace page

insinuating the principal was a pedophile and sex addict

– Courts are using 1969 Tinker case as basis for finding student discipline unconstitutional; Tinker allowed students to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam war

Student Issues• “Sexting”

– Definition: a text or electronic message that includes sexually explicit photographs sent from one cell phone to another.

– Currently, “sexting” falls within definition of child pornography; violators can be guilty of a felony and required to register as a sex offender

– New law (PA 96-1087) reduces the punishment for minors who engage in “sexting” by prosecuting the crime under sex offender laws rather than child pornography laws

– Eff. January 1, 2011

Student Issues• Cyber-bullying

– Definition: occurs when a child or teen is embarrassed, humiliated, harassed, tormented or otherwise targeted by another person using the Internet or other form of digital communication.

– Attorney General has online resources for educators (http://illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/ cyberbullying/for_educators.html)

– Warning signs that someone is being cyber-bullied: reluctance to use a computer, avoiding friends, student seems sleep-deprived

Questions?