Teachers Want To Text

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Updated: 1:57 PM Dec 30, 2010 Teachers Want To Text The Virginia Board of Education is considering advising local school divisions to adopt a ban on teachers sending text messages to students. Charlottesville-area educators and technology advocates are upset about potential restrictions. Posted: 1:57 PM Dec 30, 2010 Reporter: Jim Hanchett Email Address: jim.hanchett@newsplex.com

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December 30, 2010

Charlottesville-area educators and technology advocates are upset about potential restrictions on the ways teachers communicate with their students. The Virginia Board of Education is about to take up the issue.

The state panel is considering advising local school divisions to adopt a ban on teachers sending text messages to students.

Supporters say the policy is intended to prevent teachers and students from casually interacting on Facebook and other social media sites in a way that could encourage inappropriate behavior.

Critics say existing policies already prevent that kind of activity and that common sense should dictate how teachers communicate with their students. They also say texting is the preferred method of communication for many young people and educators can't afford to ignore it.

Here's the proposed policy:

• Teachers and other school board employees must restrict electronic communications with students to accounts, systems and platforms provided by the school division.

• Teachers and other employees may not use personal wireless communications devices to “text” students and are prohibited from interacting with students through online social-networking sites. Teachers and other school board employees must decline or disregard invitations from students to interact through texting and social-networking sites.

• Teachers and other school board employees may not knowingly engage in online gaming with students.

• School board policy on electronic communications with students also applies to teachers and other employees of virtual school programs and other vendors providing instructional services to students.

Jim Duncan lives in Crozet and distributes a widely-read blog, RealCentralVa.com. Here's his analysis:

"What about teachers’ home phones? What about communicating on snow days? What about common sense? Restrict communication to only within the walls of school? You’re going to ban Twitter? Really?

So, bans/prohibitions/rules against sexual misconduct between students and teachers is not sufficient; we must ban communication methods as well? This isn’t solely about banning behavior, it’s about banning communication. Texting is how kids communicate. Period. If teachers can communicate more effectively with them that way, so be it.

Teach responsibility. Teach common sense. Teach the importance of good decisions. Teach. Don’t ban."

Local school technology coordinator Becky Fisher wrote this on an Internet discussion between educators:

"I can assure you that the teachers and central office administrators I know who give students their cell phone numbers and text with students do so to promote student success, not to abuse kids.

The fact that a policy about texting and social media is embedded in a policy about sexual misconduct shows a lack of understanding about the potential LEARNING value of these tools."

In the same discussion, an unidentified social studies teacher from central Virginia writes:

"I worry about this constant stigma on use of technology. It's been roped into this discussion on childhood safety/sexual misconduct and then used as a way to imply that all communication via technology would be inappropriate by saying "better safe than sorry." Better to bury your head in the sand and deny all use than to admit that kids/students are going to find a way on to social networks, etc."

The Virginia Board of Education isn't considering an outright ban on texting and other out-of-classroom communication between teachers and students. It is considering recommending the policy spelled out above to local school divisions. Whether they adopt it and how they enforce it would be up to them.

The VBOE will take up the issue at a meeting Jan. 13 in Richmond.

We welcome your comments on this issue.

Latest Comments

Posted by: ABCTeacher123 Location: C'ville are on Jan 11, 2011 at 07:35 PM

I know many teacher coaches and club sponsers who use texting to simply notify team members and members' parents of practice times and cancelations, etc. Also, some teachers use facebook as a medium to remind students of homework, project, quiz, test, etc. due dates. Our society is very critical of teachersand their motives. The vast majority just want success and progress for their students.

Posted by: Anonymous Location: fluvy on Jan 5, 2011 at 07:02 PM

this is the most rediculous thing ever. if teachers aren't allowed to text a student then they shouldn't be allowed to email them, give them a letter to take home, etc. it is all the same thing. if a teacher is dumb enough to try something over text then the student should be smart enough to say something to an adult and vice versa. stop being little pansies about a simple text. during snow days students should have the right to communicate with their teacher about assignments and what they have to have done for the next school day. sorry if you can't afford a phone for your child, but it shouldn't stop other students ability to communicate with their teachers.

Posted by: Jeremy Location: Harrisonburg on Jan 3, 2011 at 07:43 PM

This policy would do little if anything to prevent sexual abuse by school employees. It is not based on any credible research into the causes or prevention of sexual abuse. It's just a reaction to technology from people who obviously don't understand its potential. How is this any different than saying teachers can't use personal phones to call students or their families, or to write notes home on paper not provided by the school division? To take it to an even more ridiculous extreme, how is it different than banning teachers from talking to students they see in the grocery store or at the ballpark?

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