Stay in bounds when you’re online

Tips for school employees

As a school employee, you’re entitled to enjoy your personal life outside of school and to express yourself in person and online. That said, because educators work with children and young adults and are seen as role models in the community, you are held to high standards for public behavior and online activities.

You need to be mindful of the public nature of your online activities.

A good basic rule to follow is this: Never put in electronic form anything that you wouldn’t want viewed by a million people, including your colleagues, students and supervisors – and your mother.

@ home
The opportunity for self-expression on the Internet is endless. Countless Web sites, including Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, provide interactive networks complete with user profiles, photos, blogs, chat rooms, videos, e-mail, bulletin boards, and instant messaging. (Full disclosure: MEA uses Facebook and Twitter to keep fans/followers apprised of association activities and events.)

What you say in cyberspace – about yourself, about your job, about your beliefs, about your activities – is easy for others to find and read. In an increasingly digital world, the line between what is public and what is private, between your professional life and your personal life, is no longer clear.

If you use any of these digital tools, you should keep these tips in mind:

• If you create your own Web page or post comments on blogs or news sites, remember your role as a teacher or school staff member. Yes, you are entitled to have a private life away from school. Still, your off-duty conduct can affect your job security. Anyone can browse a personal Web page or blog. Web sites such as Facebook or MySpace cannot guarantee privacy or anonymity.
• Even if you have set your page to “private,” people with access to it can download pictures or comments and forward them to others via e-mail. Be careful!
• Your employer can search the Internet for employee postings – and students can find and view photos of you, and they can read your posts.

@ work
If you have access to the Internet at your work site, your online activities should always be above reproach and appropriate to your role as an employee. The computer as a pedagogical tool has vast application and potential. By contrast, using the school computer to pursue personal interests may or may not be permitted by your employer, so exercise caution.

Also, remember these tips:

• Your employer owns the network that you are using to go online. If you use the school district’s server to access the Internet, do not assume that you have an “expectation of privacy” in your online activities. This is true whether you access the server at school using a school computer or access it from home using your personal computer.
• Your school computer and your school district’s server have the capacity to track your Internet activities – your “web tracks” reveal where you have gone and when you went there.
• Most employers have some form of monitoring software in place.
• Many school districts, colleges and universities have technology policies, often called an “acceptable use policy.” If you have one, read it and stay within the guidelines.

E-mail
Electronic communication with students and parents is increasingly a part of an educator’s job. Whether you are e-mailing during the day on the school network or from home after the school day, your e-mail correspondence should remain in bounds: respectful, professional, to the point, clear, unambiguous.

• E-mail is permanent, easily duplicated and not private.
• E-mail communication with students after school should be kept to a minimum and should focus on immediate class-related matters.
• Use your school e-mail address for all classroom-related communications, even if you are sending an e-mail from your home.
• Always think and write like an educator. Use spell-checking software. Be professional and be appropriate.
• Think of your e-mail message as if it is on official school stationery.

If questions arise

• If you’re ever questioned by an administrator about Internet activity that could lead to disciplinary action, initiate your right to have a union representative present before answering questions. Unless your contract requires your employer to advise you of your right to representation, you must initiate those rights.
• If you’re ever contacted by police or a law enforcement agency over Internet use, do not speak. Contact your local association immediately and get a lawyer.

A note about “old” online content
If you have a Facebook, SecondLife, MySpace, blog or other such account, know that you’re responsible for what you post. If you have such an account that you created prior to working in public education, review it. To be safe, take it down. Your life before becoming a teacher or school employee was your life. As mentioned earlier, you are held to a higher standard if you work with children. Some photos and other online content may be inappropriate in your role as a school employee.

A final tip:
Think before blogging and especially before posting negative things about your school, your supervisor or your colleagues. And don’t believe you’re ever really anonymous.

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