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Schools

CB School Board Unveils Strict Online Policies

The district hopes new guidelines will help avoid messy situations like the Natalie Munroe incident.

The Central Bucks School Board Tuesday night took a giant step forward in establishing a policy that will fundamentally change the way district employees – especially teachers – interact with students and their parents.

Known as the "Electronic Communications and Social Media/Networking" policy -- and prompted by and her infamous blog that made national news -- the document spells out in detail what constitutes improper use of technology by district employees. 

The punishment for violations could include everything up to and including termination, as well as reports to law enforcement agencies.

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Last month, the board for administrators, professional staff and classified employees. Tuesday night's policy is more sweeping in scope.

In accordance with school board procedure, the policy was tabled Tuesday night to allow for input from teachers, students and the public, according to Superintendent Dr. N. Robert Laws. He said the policy could come up for a vote next month.

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The rapid development of new technology -- and the -- forced the district to craft a policy that is "more focused, more direct, and more specific," Laws said.

The policy was based on guidelines developed by the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Keith Sinn, president of the Central Bucks Education Association, said he was pleased the district looked to the state association for guidance. 

"PSEA hasn't been on the bandwagon, it built the bandwagon" when it comes to developing communications guidelines, said Sinn. "They've been proactive in understanding the changes in technology."

Sinn said teachers could have good intentions in communicating with students "but they can…find themselves in a position they don't want to be in."

The policy lists several examples of improper electronic communications that are prohibited for staff members to engage in including:

  • Sending communications to students or parents/guardians that are of a personal nature;
  • Providing a staff member’s personal cell phone number to students;
  • Calling students on their personal cell phones or sending them text messages;
  • Emailing students or parents from a personal email account;
  • Friending or otherwise adding students or their parents/guardians to their circle of contacts on an online social networking site whose primary functions does not involve enhancing the educational goals of the district;
  • Publicly displaying or posting online material that would be disruptive to the educational process, including provocative statements or photographs, photographs of staff members engaged in activities that would be illegal for their students to engage in, or other public or online activities that would jeopardize the professional nature of the staff-student relationship;
  • Purposefully sending or receiving or attempting to send or receive electronic communications (including posts to any websites) unrelated to business activities, or that are not in support of the educational mission of the district, or any material that is obscene or defamatory or that may be perceived as annoying, harassing, or intimidating to another person;
  • Sending or attempting to send a communication anonymously or in any manner so as to disguise the identity of the actual sender;
  • Representing personal opinions as those of the district;
  • Disclosing personally identifiable information related to a student, except in strict accordance with Board Policy and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act;
  • Using any district computer for personal business such as online shopping or affinity group participation;
  • Communicating with students or parents of students with whom the employee has a professional relationship through social networking sites outside the workplace;
  • Using any district computer to facilitate or participate in blogging or to facilitate chatrooms unless used for a clear educational purpose, and otherwise consistent with law and board policy;
  • Downloading files, games, music or videos unless for a clear educational purpose and always in accordance with copyright and fair use guidelines.

After June 30, 2012, the policy will impose specific limitations on web-based tools that involve two-way communication between teachers and students. Only web-based tools that physically reside on district servers and are managed by the district will be permitted. No links or references to external web-based tool will be permitted.

Until then, teachers must adhere to the following guidelines when using web-based tools that are not managed by the district:

  • Teachers must notify their principal that they intend to use a tool for two-way communication with students, and it must have a clear educational purpose.
  • When creating student accounts, teachers must adhere to the requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. Specifically, teachers must obtain written permission to create accounts for children under age 13.
  • No student faces may be used in any pictures or videos uploaded to or made available via the tool.
  • Any comments or posts that may be made must be first routed to a teacher for release.
  • Any posts or comments made by students must be able to be deleted by a teacher.
  • A password or other means of restricting access to members of the district educational community must be available and used.
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