Suspended Teacher in Facebook Incident Ignites Debate: Should Online  Privacy for Educators Exist?

The Charlotte teacher in question, had posted statements on her Facebook page regarding the school  and students in her class. The comments were made unwittingly, as the teacher assumed that her Facebook page is private and her friends were the only ones viewing it.

• Should the teacher who posted the comments to her friends be disciplined for her remarks she thought were made in private?
• How responsible are educators for their online content?
• Should online privacy exist for students and educators?
• Should we be able to separate our professional and personal profiles on social networks? Would it actually be feasible?

 To begin, the Family Educational Rights of Privacy Act FERPA asserts that “agencies must maintain, for public inspection, a list of employees who have access to personally identifiable information”(pg.8). This in essence, suggests that all employees who have access to student information are required to follow the guidelines.

 Family Educational Rights of Privacy Act (FERPA) is explicit in what information may not be exposed, and to who it may be revealed.  Educational records protected under FERPA are defined as “information directly related to a student, specifically any information recorded in any way” (pg10). This includes “handwriting, print, computer media, videotape or audiotape, film, microfilm, and microfiche; and maintained by an education agency or institution, or by parties acting for the agency or institution (e.g., special education schools and health or social services institutions”(pg.10).

When “the suspended teacher wrote, “I am teaching in the most ghetto school in Charlotte”( Schaffhauser, November19, 2008,¶14), she was, in fact, revealing the economic status of students at the Thomasboro Elementary School to people not necessarily on the “list of employees” (National Forum on Education Statistics, pg.8). Furthermore, because a student’s financial status is documented at the school for purposes of free lunches or statistics, it falls under the guidelines of protected information.  The National School Lunch Act of 1994 “protects the privacy of information that agencies collect from families of children who are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals.”(pg 8)

Is there any relevance to the fact that the teacher was on her private Facebook page? When considering that she was divulging protected information in a manner unacceptable to FERPA guidelines. When should a teacher’s right to privacy excel over that of a student’s? 

 FERPA standards insist on teachers admonishing the privacy of students and adhering to the laws set before them. Educators are implicitly responsible for their online content because the private information of their students is entrusted to them.  FERPA sets the standards and the teachers enforce those standards. Is

Facebook privacy  really  the issue here? Or should educators  know their boundaries regarding what information can be shared and what is private.

Schools afford educators and other employees a private, secure means of discussing student information through school and district communication systems that are only accessible to specific employees. Isn't this where the separation exists?

Instructors today must teach students that whatever they put online stays online and to be cautious about what they write.

 It is imperative that instructors  set the example of appropriate online communications for their students.

Students, on the other hand, do not have access to private information regarding teachers, so whatever they write is not under scrutiny.

What students choose to write has much to do with the models that are set for them. 
Here's a thought:

Now that we have reasoned that standards are set in place for instructors to follow in America, we face a much greater impasse. Who will set the standards for online communications, and what will they be when there is no universal code of ethics?

Clasen-Kelly, F (November 14, 2008). Teachers and Facebook: Privacy vs. Standards. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2008/11/14/349354/teachers-and-facebook-privacy.html  

 

National Forum on Education Statistics. Forum Guide to Protecting the Privacy of Student Information: State and Local Education Agencies, NCES 2004–330. Washington, DC: 2004. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004330.pdf

Schaffhauser, D (November, 19, 2008)  Suspended Teacher in Facebook Incident Ignites Debate:  

            Should Online Privacy for Educators Exist? Retrieved April 10, 2011 from   

            http://thejournal.com/articles/2008/11/19/suspended-teacher-in-facebook-incident-

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