Social Media 4 Educator Safety!

Bay Mills Community College Session on Social Media in Education

Educators today are dealing a world of instant access... Sometimes positive and sometimes negative. They are leaving a digital legacy that will follow them through life. Listen and learn along with Jay as he explains the highs and lows of all aspects of our digital world and how he has found a way to lead by example and thought. This session will cover everything from FaceBook and Twitter to dangerous apps and how they can be harmful.

“You’ve got a new group of teachers that are coming into school grew up with text messaging. It's a way they communicate. It's a way they are comfortable communicating,” he said." HERE

Smartphone Addiction?

"According to a recent Pew Research Center Study, 46% of Americans say they cannot live without their smartphones. The adverse effects of smartphones have led to a physiological and psychological response, leading researchers to believe that smartphone addiction is akin to an impulse control disorder (ICD), which is characterized by failure to resist a temptation.

One dictionary defines “addiction” as the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. “Addiction,” however, commonly handled by neuropsychiatric departments, is a phenomenon that manifests in tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and dependence, accompanied by social problems. The term was once limited to drugs or substances, but can now also be applied to gambling, Internet, gaming, mobile-phone usage, and other behavioral addictions."

Negatives

WOW!!! 2016! COLUMBIA, S.C. – A high school teacher lost her job after a teenager went through her cellphone between classes, found a nude picture of her and shared it on social media. HERE

Don't we learn??? 2022! The West Jasper County School Board had an emergency meeting Monday to hear an appeal from a teacher who was reprimanded after a student was accused of taking her phone and sending a salacious photograph of her to his phone, then spreading it around the school. HERE

Openly gay teacher fired after posting wedding pictures on social media. "...teaching at a Catholic school.” Her contract contained a moral turpitude clause." HERE

Black principal says racism was behind request to remove photo with white wife. HERE

In October 2012, Coriann Ulrich, a substitute teacher in Moses Lake, Washington, was fired because of a complaint made by a woman Ulrich had never met. The woman, Jenn Gutterud, lived in California—1,200 miles away from Ulrich. Gutterud’s complaint was based on comments made by Ulrich in 2012 on a public Facebook page about teen pregnancy. Ulrich began her post by writing, “I hate teen moms!” and continued with additional comments related to teen pregnancy. Gutterud saw the post, was offended by the comments, and contacted the school corporation that Ulrich listed on Facebook as her employer. After reviewing the comments, school officials terminated Ulrich’s employment (Hall, 2012). HERE

In March 2013, Alan Francis, a full-time Pennsylvania substitute teacher, was fired for “complimenting” a female student online. Francis was never told what comment or post resulted in his termination, or even whether the comment originated from his Facebook or his Twitter account. The school corporation that employed him stated only that the post in question was neither sexual nor inappropriate in nature and that the decision to fire Francis was made after the student’s mother complained to the school board (WPXI, 2013). HERE

Mary Durstein, who was a teacher at Huntington High School, located in West Virginia, lost her job after sending tweets ridiculing blacks, Muslims and former US President, Barack Obama. HERE

MacRae had been on the job just a few weeks when the Bourne teachers union and other members of the community sought her resignation after a TikTok video emerged of MacRae making comments about gender identification and racism education. HERE

Kandice Mason, a 6th grade teacher in Hoke County public schools who moonlights as a pole-dancing fitness instructor, was suspended on Aug. 16 due to violations of the county’s social media policy and the state department of education’s ethics policy for educators, said Donna Thomas, a spokeswoman for the district. HERE

A suburban Chicago teacher is on leave after outrage was sparked by a now-deleted social media post that, officials say, used explicit language in reference to the educator's fifth-grade students. HERE

Public School Teachers and Social Media: the Protections and Limitations of the Right to Free Speech

The convergence of widespread social media use, and recent national social movements and events—including the MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter movement, and the COVID-19 pandemic—has led to a growing number of public school teachers and other government employees being disciplined for statements they make on their private social media.
- Here in Massachusetts, a teacher was fired after posting a diatribe against people living in poverty and the conversation about privilege.
- In Ohio, a teacher was fired after making a social media post criticizing police brutality against students.
- There has been significant attention paid to public university professors across the country, with institutions taking differing views of whether they can terminate professors for their online speech.
- In Texas, Collin College fired three professors for making political comments on social media and criticizing their institutions’ handlings of the COVID-19 pandemic. In
- Indiana, the University of Indiana said it could not fire a professor who wrote posts denigrating women and LGBTQ people.
- We have been hearing from more public school teachers around Massachusetts who are being investigated and sometimes disciplined for their private social media posts about political and social issues. HERE