Schools set rules for social networks ; REGION; Often curb contact of teachers, teens

As a former Abington educator heads to court followingallegations of inappropriate interaction with teenagers on Facebook,school districts that do not have policies governing online socialnetworking are working to complete them as soon as possible.

Schools officials say they want not only to protect students frompredators, but also to protect teachers who have good intentionsfrom getting involved in students' lives in inappropriate ways orways that create the appearance of impropriety.

Sharon and Cohasset are among the communities where schoolcommittees expect to vote on the policies in late summer or fall. Ifthey do, the towns will join Norton, Weymouth, Braintree, Foxborough, and others south of Boston.

Many communities, including Abington, have adopted policies basedon a model the Massachusetts Association of School Committees sentto districts during the last school year.

The model bans teachers from connecting with students as friendson social networking sites and "improper fraternization" via theInternet, cellphone, texting, or telephone. The guidelines banteachers from giving students their home telephone numbers orprivate cellphone numbers without prior approval.

The perils of social-media interaction between students andteachers, documented in cases around the country, hit the Boston area when Jon O'Keefe, an Abington High School boys tennis coachand substitute teacher, was accused of offering to buy alcohol forstudents and seeking sex from them in exchange for money.

O'Keefe, 31, of Waltham, was fired in May over the allegationsand is due in court next month. He faces three counts of sexualconduct for a fee, two counts of reckless endangerment of a child,and one count of enticing a child under 16, said AssistantPlymouth District Attorney Catherine Ham.

Sharon hopes to craft a policy that will prevent serious problemsbefore they start.

Timothy Farmer, Sharon's school superintendent, said that socialnetworking between students and staff could create the perception ofinappropriate relationships, even where none exist, so staff membersshould avoid getting involved in students' social world online.

"Professionals, especially in the education community, need to beconcerned about what is appropriate with regard to communicatingwith students," he said.

School Committee members have worked with Farmer to create adetailed draft, more than double the length of the model. Inaddition to prohibiting staff from initiating or accepting friendrequests on Facebook or similar platforms, the draft warns staffabout the unequal power in the student-teacher relationship.

"Employees should be mindful that the uneven power dynamics of aschool, in which adults have implied authority over current andformer students, continues to shape those relationships after theend of the school day and year and even after graduation," the draftstates. "Employees must act in a manner that always respects andnever exploits the power inherent in these relationships."

Farmer said Sharon reviewed policies in Norton and Foxborough to help create the draft. The Norton policy forbids staff membersfrom friending current students or former students under 18.

It also points out that teachers are already required to maintainprofessional boundaries, such as by communicating with students onlyon school-related activities and not giving a student excessiveattention. The same standards apply to electronic communication, theNorton policy states.

Patricia Ansay, school superintendent in Norton, said it was achallenge to create an effective policy without discouraginglegitimate communication.

It's difficult from an administrative point of view, too, shesaid, "because you want teachers to be part of the community, andmany of them go so far out of their way to make sure their studentsare successful."

In Cohasset, School Committee member Jeanne Astino saidelectronic communication should be part of an overall policy onprofessional conduct. The committee has been working on a policy andwill resume discussing it soon, probably in September, she said.

Not all school officials oppose social-media contacts betweenteachers and students. Teachers sometimes create Internet pages tocommunicate with a club as a group, said Mitch Blaustein, a memberof the Sharon School Committee.

Sharon's draft policy says club advisers and coaches must sendcommunications to all team or club members, unless doing so wouldcompromise medical or academic privacy.

Under the draft policy, coaches and advisers must send copies tothe principal and, in the case of sports, to the athletic director,as well.

The draft also has an exception for principals to approve thedistribution of telephone numbers when doing so improves studentsafety, such as during field trips or exchange programs in whichstudents are not in sight of chaperones.

Blaustein said he does not necessarily want to see friendingforbidden. "I think the staff should be smart enough with what theydo and say on Facebook," he said.

But Blaustein said he would probably vote to ban such friendingas part of an overall policy.

Astino, too, does not believe in completely eliminating social-media contacts between teachers and students, but she said staffmembers' behavior must be guided by standards of professionalconduct.

"You have to keep that moral compass switched in the onposition," she said.

Glenn Koocher, executive director of the MassachusettsAssociation of School Committees, said the state has seen a few"media squabbles" in which teachers unions objected to schooldistricts adopting policies that address what they do outside ofschool.

"A lot of people take a libertarian view," he said.

Some policies, including Braintree's, warn that nothing postedonline is fully private and that Internet activity can affect howstaff members are perceived in the community and at school.

The Braintree policy adds, "Posting items with sexual content andthose exhibiting or advocating use of alcohol and/or illegal drugsis inappropriate."

Koocher praised communities for engaging in "incredibly healthydebate" on the subject of social media.

"The relationship between an educator and a student who is also aminor is a very important one," he said, and schools must makedelicate and complex decisions about how to handle it.

Jennette Barnes can be reached at jennettebarnes@yahoo.com.

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