no profile left behind (from the nov. 26, 2009 morgan county citizen) By Kathryn Schiliro, Managing Editor Somebody wants you to think Coach Bill Malone wants to be your friend. Unbeknownst to the coach, someone set up an account in his name on Facebook, the popular social networking site, and then proceeded to “friend” other users. The real Bill Malone confirmed that he did not, in fact, set up the profile and the Morgan County Touchdown Club is trying to get the word out. “ATTENTION ** Coach Malone does not have a Facebook account. If you are sent a request, please ignore it. If you have already accepted the request please delete it.Thank you!” the most recent post reads. While Malone and Principal Dr. Mark Wilson offered no comment on the matter, Superintendent Dr. Stan DeJarnett did offer limited comment. “It was falsely posted and attributed to him,” DeJarnett said. “As it was not a school-related matter, it falls outside [school jurisdiction]...It’s really, really unfortunate because he’s a fine coach and teacher.” At what point, then, does a teacher’s Web-based social networking become school business? Earlier this month in Barrow County, Apalachee High School teacher Ashley Payne was allegedly forced to resign after pictures and language on her Facebook page were brought to the attention of school system administration. According to reports, the parent of one of Payne’s students accessed the page through her daughter’s Facebook profile and found pictures of the teacher holding glasses of alcohol while on summer vacation in addition to a posting in which Payne stated she was on her way to play “Crazy [expletive] Bingo.” Payne maintains that her Facebook account was set to the highest privacy setting possible and that she did not “friend” students or parents of students. Most recently, she has filed a lawsuit against the Barrow County School System. Beyond a reprimand on “one or two very isolated occasions,” no personnel action within the Morgan County School System has been ever been taken due to a teacher’s social networking, DeJarnett said. Currently, the school system does have measures in place to hold teachers responsible for what they do online, so long as they’re within the realm of the school system. “All of our employees sign an acceptable use agreement that talks about all of their Internet and technology use,” DeJarnett said. “That covers things like social networking sites.” In fact the agreement does rule that “Neither students nor employees shall create ‘home pages’ or directories with approval by the system operator,” a stipulation that may include Facebook profiles. However, this agreement only applies to Morgan County School System technology resources.While all Morgan County teachers do have a laptop issued to them by the school system, that’s not to say they don’t have a home computer as well.There is no acceptable use agreement for what teachers do on their personal computers with their personal time. Additionally, teachers new to the Morgan County School System are required to attend an induction program, which does address appropriate use of the Internet in relation to the school system. Teachers statewide are expected to adhere to a Code of Ethics, part of which addresses the use of technology and the Internet, put in place by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, the organization responsible for teacher certification. In Morgan County, the attitude as far as teachers and social networking seems to be one of trust. “In terms of their personal life and their personal social networking sites, the Code of Ethics and the fact that they’re professional educators means that to be effective in the classroom they have to avoid things that might reduce or things that might disrupt their effectiveness as a teacher,” DeJarnett said.
“They are considered professional so there is some latitude given to them as professionals,” Assistant Superintendent Dr. Ralph Bennett said. “We don’t monitor their use of technology every minute of every day.” Of course, there is no firm number as to how many of Morgan County’s teachers use any social networking site; there are, however, several student organizations that maintain Facebook pages. In fact, Morgan County Middle School keeps a Facebook fan page. Principal Dr. Joe Hutcheson maintains it. “My goal was to try to provide another avenue so that our students would remain connected to the school,” Hutcheson said, in an e-mail. “Recently, I read that only 14 percent of school-age children in the U.S. use e-mail. Not understanding why, I asked a few of our students and was quickly informed that e-mail was ‘old school.’ I don’t think I realized the number of students at MCMS [whose] lives are centered on texting and social networking...Hosting our Facebook page is a simple way to get a few more students and parents connected to the school.” According to Hutcheson, the fan count has grown each day since the page has been up, and parents outnumber students as “fans” three to one. Hutcheson, the administrator of the school’s page, posts announcements, events, even upto-date scores from athletic events on the page. He also checks the site multiple times a day for anything inappropriate. “I check the site a few times each day and I look for advertisements that are not appropriate so that I can remove them, and I look for postings that might need to be removed,” Hutcheson said. “To this point, I have only removed advertisements.” School system administration realizes that social networking may play eventually play a role in education.There are positives and negatives to the phenomenon, and the plan is to approach with caution. “It’s just a communication tool that a lot of organizations are taking advantage of to meet their audience,” DeJarnett said. “We’re probably not out on the edge of that curve, but I don’t want to get so far behind that we can’t catch up... Like all the new technologies, as we begin to understand the positives it can do...we also know there can be some risks.We have to try to be thoughtful when moving into that arena.”