Missouri's New Facebook Law Prohibits Teachers From Friending Students

Beginning this school year, Missouri teachers will no longer be able to friend their students on Facebook or other social networks.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54 last week, which prohibits social networking between students and teachers. Missouri is the first to take these measures, TIME reports, and the law takes effect Aug. 28.

Also known as the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, the regulations aim to prevent sexual misconduct by teachers. The act's namesake was a woman who was assaulted by a high school teacher, according to TIME.

SB 54 also requires that school districts develop written policies about interactions between students and school employees that:

…include appropriate oral and nonverbal personal communication, which may be combined with sexual harassment policies, and appropriate use of electronic media as described in the act, including social networking sites. Teachers cannot establish, maintain, or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child's legal custodian, physical custodian, or legal guardian. Teachers also cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student.

Teachers are, however, permitted to create the more public Facebook Pages and have students be a "fan" of them, KSPR reports.

While proponents support the protection of students, critics say the law is too vague and broad, and will consequently prove ineffective.

Quick Poll

What do you think? Should teachers and students be permitted to be friends on Facebook?

Yes, any time.

Yes, but only after the student is no longer in the teacher's class.

Yes, but only after the student leaves the school or graduates.

No, never.

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[ennis11595]

05:29 PM on 08/19/2011

This law is silly. I agree with the previous comments about actual personal student-teacher relationships, such as father and son or brother and sister. It is a teacher's decision whom he or she should friend on Facebook, not a school district's. I also agree with the comment about a 35-year-old student friending a former teacher on Facebook. Does that seem so bad? I don't think so. How can that be illegal to friend a teacher years after being in his or her student? I do not think it is wise, however, for teachers to be friends with students on Facebook while the student has the current teacher and for the duration of the student's time in high school. After graduation, fine. This law also, in my opinion, is an unconstitutional form of censorship, effectively prohibiting teachers and students from communicating to each other in a manner seen as "odd" or "on the brink of sexual misconduct." This law must be repealed.

[LH1981]

05:43 PM on 08/04/2011

This is outrageous. Not to mention I can find so many loopholes it's ridiculous. What if a student is a relative? Yes this happens quite often in small districts. My friend's dad actually had to teach his son in math. So, father and son are not allowed to be friends on Facebook according to this law? Absurd. What if a former student becomes a colleague? We can't be friends? What about when a teacher retires? Then can they be friends with past students? What if a teacher marries one of his/her former students? This happens as well (thought not frequently). How silly that a husband and wife couldn't be friends on Facebook. This law seems to be implying that teachers are bad and not capable of carrying on a friendship with a former student. While I would never friend a current student, I see no problem with past students connecting with me later on. Surely someone who is over 18 can choose their friends. Not to mention, it is quite easy to "unfriend" someone and block them if you do not want to be their friend. What is next? Baby-sitters, daycare workers, cafeteria staff, janitors...the list goes on. Principals aren't mentioned either. Teachers keep taking hit after hit to our integrity. This has got to stop!

[Mark Eaton]

12:55 PM on 08/04/2011

When students ask if we can be 'friends' on FB, I let them know that anything posted on my 'wall' must use proper English grammar, every word spelled correctly, correct punctuation used and NO TEXT SPELLING! Problem solved.

[shelomith stow]

01:40 PM on 08/04/2011

LOL; I love it!!

[acquavite1982]

12:16 PM on 08/04/2011

I am a teacher. Third grade. And my third grade students are even asking me if I have a Facebook and if I can friend them. I've always been "honesty first" in my classroom, so I just tell them, "Yes, I have a Facebook, but it's my personal Facebook and I don't friend my students." After I tell them that, they drop the issue. It should be common sense, really, for a professional teacher to not friend their students, because that blurs the line of the teacher/student relationship, which is also meant to be kept professional. Am I say you're not allowed to care? No. As a teacher, you can do your job, care about your students, and remain a professional.

[LH1981]

05:45 PM on 08/04/2011

And what if one of your former students is a relative? You will never friend them on Facebook? My friend's father taught his son (small district). This law would mean they wouldn't ever be able to friend each other on Facebook.

[The Albany Kid]

09:51 AM on 08/04/2011

The "former student" provision seems weird. What if, years from now, the "former student" is 35 years old? Would the law bar private social media contact between a teacher and his/her 35 year old former student?

[LH1981]

05:47 PM on 08/04/2011

I agree. The former student part is what is ridiculous. I certainly think anyone over 18 can be responsible for picking their own friends. My uncle is a retired teacher/principal. Many of his former students have sought him out on Facebook and he has reconnected with them. It's exciting to see your past students "grow up." There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!

[shelomith stow]

09:27 AM on 08/04/2011

This is just another tidbit in the sex offender hysteria that is taking over our nation. I taught high school for 28 years in the dark ages before Facebook. I never thought of my students as friends. My favorite principal always said that they have enough friends. But over those years, they talked to me, they shared their joys and their hopes, they cried on my shoulder, they invited me to their games, and I must have hugged thousands of them, all with absolutely no hint of anything inappropriate even being thought of. The same principal who said don’t try to be friends with them also frequently quoted, “They won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I wasn’t their "friend," but I cared, and they cared back. This is just one of the things that has been lost in today’s world, sacrificed to being careful because someone might get the wrong idea. It makes the world a little sadder.

[TruEngineHearing]

10:00 AM on 08/04/2011

I understand and agree with your comments. There is an insulting suspicion out there, and it is indeed troubling and sad. I taught at a university for many years and it was easy to recognize the correct relationship one should have with students.

[jheing]

07:31 AM on 08/04/2011

Poor misguided Missouri- what do you expect? A republican legislator who wants more government. This reminds me of when the cops around Columbia got in trouble for harassing motorists for their political bumper stickers. Seems like their legislators are fairly uneducated and uninformed.

[josie klapper]

05:45 AM on 08/04/2011

Right off the top, as the ACLU rightly points out, there are some serious 1st Amendment issues here (free speech and more importantly in this case right of free association). My guess is this silliness on the part of Missouri will get toss at the first judicial opportunity. Now what I would like to know is why Missouri legislators are so un-informed about the 1st Amendment that they would even think something like this up...

[mangafreak2128]

09:31 PM on 08/03/2011

Depends. Are we talking secondary school teachers or college professors? I see nothing wrong with communicating with a college professor over a social network. As for secondary school teachers, once the student is no longer enrolled at the school.

[dbrett480]

08:01 PM on 08/03/2011

Why would teachers even use Facebook to interact with their students? I'm not sure I see the usefulness of it.

[lcr999]

11:59 AM on 08/05/2011

you could say the same about email 10 years ago, or phone 50 years ago.

Facebook is how kids communicate. My daughter rarely reads her email, but a text or facebook message is read right away.

[wolfcon89]

07:04 PM on 08/03/2011

I think its stupid. My dad worked at my high school so I came in knowing all of my teachers very well. Not only was I facebook friends with teachers but I had their cell phone numbers. Even now in college friending a professor was just another way to stay in contact with them. She would update her status telling us she changed something on the website so we knew to check it. Considering most students access facebook all day I think it can be used as a great tool.

[TJ Logan]

05:05 PM on 08/03/2011

This is really quite silly. What Facebook labels "friends" are not friends at all but "contacts" just like you have a group of email contacts you often communicate with. That a few are true friends is likely, but the vast majority of your Facebook "friends" are only acquaintances.

Now that some crime was facilitated in the past using Facebook is not the issue. The Crime could have equally been committed on email or old fashioned letters and notes.

Now, if a student is stuck on a homework problem, like a math equation they dont fully understand, they will be unable to use Facebook to further their understanding.

But this is Missouri after all and one should not expect much from them.

[peter 9922]

01:10 PM on 08/03/2011

they can be friends. but not on facebook. it's no problem at all in google+

[Christina L Mullinax]

07:52 PM on 08/03/2011

That is the problem with the law, there is no room for "differnence" In a no tolerance enviroment there can be alot of issues, even more with the vague languge.

[josie klapper]

05:49 AM on 08/04/2011

Not familiar with the nuts and bolts of Googles new " (dis!)service" but if it allows for the potential of one on one private conversations it's out too. I suspect that AIM, Skype, and just about any chat room out there would fall under this.

[lcr999]

12:01 PM on 08/05/2011

what can be more private than email or phone.

This is a really dumb law passed by a bunch of Luddites.

[lhanderson86]

12:57 PM on 08/03/2011

If this is to protect teen girl from being assaulted, it's not going to work. Missouri should focus on hiring practices and background checks for teachers, not legislating communication.

[josie klapper]

05:50 AM on 08/04/2011

It's not like we are talking about a state with a lot of branches in the family trees...

[Vic22]

12:35 PM on 08/03/2011

Well I guess they'll have to resort to tweeting their address to the attractive students

[josie klapper]

05:47 AM on 08/04/2011

Under the law that's a no no too. Any social site that allows for private conversations is not allowed.