Can I Friend You??

More and more often on the parking lot, I hear discussions between parents and teachers that have something to do with the comment "I saw that on your Facebook page".  I find myself wondering where we draw the line in terms of how friendly teachers are with their students' parents.

Recently in Cleavland County, NC, District administrators made it policy to not friend students or their parents on any social networking sites.  Read Full Story Here.  One of the county administrators ended with the quote “What we hope is that they’ll exercise caution,” she said. “Our expectation is that they use good professional common sense.”

While "professional common sense" should be an integral part of any teacher's repertoire, one has to wonder if getting wrapped up  in Facebook has caused us to lose some of the professionalism.  Whenever you interact with the parent of any student it should be in a professional manner.  Since Facebook is a rather casual social networking site, relationships within the site tend to be more casual as well.

Teachers and parents will argue that the atmosphere in our school is more relaxed, more casual, a place where everyone knows everyone and is always talking with each other.  I would argue that this would be the exact reason that we need to make a strong separation between our school life and our personal life.  Teachers should not be giving parents any reason to wonder if they are competent in teaching their children, and parents need not share all the ins and outs of their personal lives for teachers to read.

While nothing in our Archdiocese has been formally suggested in terms of Facebook and being friends with parents, I have heavily suggested to my teachers that they refrain from "friending" parents of current students and just as I remind the children in my care - nothing that you post anywhere is 100% private.  I don't think there is any need for the relationship between a parent and their child's teacher to be as casual as Facebook suggests.  First, I don't want my parents knowing too much about my teachers, and second, I don't need my teachers hearing about the private lives of our parents.

Its something on the mind of administartors, and a topic we will all need to discuss with our faculties soon enough.  So I ask you...If my child is in your class... Can I friend you??

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Hi to all who have come to check out my little space.  I will be looking at issues in school leadership and technology isuues, specifically the social, legal and ethical issues involved in using technology in schools.  I hope you enjoy!