iBrowse: Should teachers 'friend' pupils?

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Should students and teachers ever be friends on Facebook? School districts across the country, including the nation's largest, are weighing that question as they seek to balance the risks of inappropriate contact with the academic benefits of social networking.

At least 40 school districts nationwide have approved social media policies. Schools in New York City and Florida have disciplined teachers for Facebook activity.

In the New York cases, one teacher friended several female students and wrote comments including "this is sexy" under their photos, investigators said. A substitute teacher sent a message to a student saying that her boyfriend did not "deserve a beautiful girl like you."

Such behavior clearly oversteps boundaries, but some teachers say social media can be a vital educational resource.

New York Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott plans to release social media guidelines this month, saying that teachers "don't want to be put in a situation that could either compromise them or be misinterpreted."

Nkomo Morris, who teaches English and journalism at a high school in Brooklyn, said she has about 50 current and former students as Facebook friends. That could be a problem if the new rules instruct teachers not to friend students.

In that event, "I'd . . . unfriend them," Morris said. In the meantime, Morris manages her privacy settings so neither current nor former students see her personal information but do see posts about current events. She also lets students know whether something on their Facebook pages raises a red flag, such as sexual content.

"They're not always as savvy as I am," Morris said.