Friendly Advice to Teachers: Beware of Facebook

By Nancy Solomon, NJ Spotlight

(For the radio version of this story that aired on NPR's All Things Considered Wednesday, click here)

The new and ever-changing world of social networking has blurred the lines between private and public, work and personal, friend and stranger. It's becoming a particular challenge for teachers who can quickly rile students and parents by posting comments or photos online.

In some cases, teachers have been fired for statements they've made on Facebook, which is raising free speech issues.

Union, N.J., high school teacher Viki Knox posted comments on her Facebook page that quickly turned into a flaming war of words with parents and local residents. It began with comments that a gay history exhibit at the school should be removed; she then urged her friends to pray and eventually called homosexuality a perverted sin.

The school district began an investigation at the request of parents, and dueling demonstrations were held at the local school board meeting between gay-rights activists, and supporters of the teacher.

"She has the right to post as a private citizen, but not as a teacher," one protester said.

"Viki has a right to free speech!" another responded.

Knox has been suspended while the investigation continues. In Paterson, N.J., a first-grade teacher in a largely black and Latino school may lose her job after commenting on Facebook that she feels like a "warden for future criminals."

John Palfrey of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society says there have always been teachers who say dumb things, but now social media amplify those comments.

"There's a really simple concept here, which is [that] the nature of a conversation is changing in a digital age and the consequences of saying something that's dumb are much greater," Palfrey says. "People can get fired for [saying] something that otherwise would have been completely and quickly forgotten."

The New Jersey teachers union is providing legal help in both cases. Spokesman Steve Wollmer says the union suggests a variety of policies that should be followed when teachers use social media.

"Don't ever friend or follow your students on Facebook or Twitter, never post during work hours or using work materials such as a school computer, and certainly never post anything about your job online, especially about students," Wollmer says. "I think that's where some of these teachers have found themselves in difficult situations."

Teachers are running into problems with social media all across the country, and often the organization that jumps to their defense -- no matter how offensive the comments might be -- is the American Civil Liberties Union. Ed Barocas, legal director of the ACLU in New Jersey, says teachers have a right to free speech and must be protected from what is called "the heckler's veto," or someone taking issue with their opinion.

"You have the right to speak your mind; you have the right to be offensive, as long as it does not create [an] inability to do your job at the school," Barocas says.

Barocas says teachers do run a greater risk of saying something that can affect their job performance. Just this week, a Bronx high school principal made tabloid news because students passed around a Facebook photo that shows her being doused in chocolate sauce by a shirtless man.

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