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MySpace is no place for educators

Increasingly, education employee discipline and termination cases center on the use of technology. This can range from simple violation of a district’s usage agreement (e.g. shopping on eBay during plan time) to more egregious violations (I’ll let you use your imagination here). In addition, there has been increased awareness of the dangers to children posed by social networking Web sites such as MySpace.com. However, recent events have made it apparent that such Web sites can also pose dangers to education employees.

For those of you not familiar with social networking Web sites, the basic concept is that an individual can post pictures and information about herself on a Web page offered through the networking site. The individual can post her blog (basically, an online diary), pictures of her online “friends” and links to their Web sites as well. There are so many potential pitfalls presented with this type of scenario that I struggle with where to begin.

At the outset, an education employee who is contemplating joining a social networking Web site should keep one simple rule in mind: never post anything you would not want your principal, superintendent, school board members, the parents of your students, your students, your family or the public at large to see. The information on your Web site is not private; that’s the reason you put it out there—for others to see. With few exceptions, you cannot restrict who has access to this information. Therefore, before you post something, make sure you would feel comfortable with it appearing as the headline in tomorrow’s newspaper, with your picture as accompaniment.

Secondly, remember that not all is as it appears on the Internet. Most social networking Web sites require the user to provide his age in his profile. However, there is no verification process. For example, many of my daughter’s 13-year-old friends list their ages as 18 on their profiles. Although it is obvious from their pictures that most of these girls are not 18, with some of them it is very hard to tell. Furthermore, the user can post any picture she wants; for instance, my daughter’s 13-year-old friend could post her 20-year old sister’s picture. Therefore, another user, thinking his new online friend is a 20-year-old student at the University of Missouri, in reality is a 13-year-old middle-school student. The problems multiply with this scenario if the user decides to meet face to face with his new friend.

I know that some of you are thinking that you would never fall prey to either of the types of situations I have discussed above. You are confident that you only post appropriate information on your site, and you only network with people you know on your site. Even so, consider this scenario. You have applied for a job at a new district. One of the questions on the application or at the interview is “Do you have a Web site?” If you answer yes, the district might decide not to hire you for that simple reason. Maybe based on past experience, or based on something they have heard or read, the administration believes that educators with Web sites pose potential problems. If you answer no, it is quite possible that the administrator will do a search and discover that you lied. In that situation, regardless of what the administration believes about the appropriateness of education employees having Web sites, you will not be hired because you have been caught in a lie. If the district hires you, but finds out later that you lied, you risk termination for supplying false information on your application.

Is it illegal for an education employee to have a Web site or participate in a social-networking Web site? Of course not. Does participating in a social networking Web site pose potential problems for an education employee? You bet it does! Is it worth the risk of your job? Only you can decide.

As always, if you have any questions about this or any other employment-related matter, please contact your UniServ director.

by Jacquie Shipma
Manager of legal services