Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/517581
SUMMER 2015 | wyoea.org 7 Don't Let Facebook Ruin Your Career It's no secret that Facebook can be a potential source of trouble for school employees. Across the country, teachers and other employees have been disciplined or terminated for their conduct on Facebook. While this includes behavior that clearly crosses the line, such as communicating inappropriately with students or revealing confidential information, it has also included activity that may seem much less serious. Teachers have faced discipline for things like referring to students as "future criminals," making derogatory comments about their boss, posting pictures where they appear drunk, using offensive terms or racial slurs, referring to their sexual exploits, or engaging in suggestive exchanges with other adults. You may assume that you have the protection of your right to freedom of speech for what you post online, but the truth is that as a teacher or school employee, your free speech rights provide only very limited job protection. Your speech is only protected if it touches on a "matter of public concern" and if it doesn't impair your ability to perform your job within the school. That means that you could be disciplined or potentially terminated if the district believes your online conduct sets a bad example, calls your judgment into question, or interferes with the workplace. Teachers are entitled to private lives, but once they start posting or sharing information on a site like Facebook, they open their private life up to others and create an electronic record. This is why it's important that you are careful about who you are friends with on Facebook and what your privacy settings allow others to see. However, even if you are careful about your privacy settings, you can't control what others do with information you post on Facebook. While it seems like what you post on Facebook is only shared with your "friends," that inappropriate cartoon you "liked" or that rant you posted about your class could end up being seen by students, parents, or administrators. The safest way to use Facebook is to assume that everything you post, comment on, like, or are tagged in, could be visible to anyone. q Be aware of and follow your district's social media policy, if it has one. q Don't talk about students, even if you don't use student names. q Don't say anything negative about your job, school, administrators, or coworkers. q Don't reveal or reference any confidential information. q Don't post or share content related to drug use, excessive drinking, sex, violence, or illegal activity. Also avoid using excessive bad language or writing or reposting inappropriate or offensive content. q Be mindful of the pages, pictures, and statuses you "like," as this shows up in the news feed of your "friends." q Review the content of links before you post or share them, and use the same standards you would use for posting your own content. q Do not post comments or content that you would not like students, administrators, or parents to see. q Regardless of your privacy settings, there is always a possibility something you post online could eventually be seen by those individuals. q Set your privacy settings so that you can review pictures and posts that others tag you in before they show up on your timeline. q Carefully manage your privacy settings to ensure that your posts and information are only available to the intended audience, including controlling the privacy settings for individual posts. q Regularly check your privacy settings, as Facebook sometimes makes changes that could affect your settings. q Review your Facebook "activity log" and remove any past activity that might raise concerns. q Do not accept "friend" requests from students. q If you need to use Facebook as a tool to communicate with students, set up a separate classroom or teacher page unconnected to your private account and only use it to communicate about school-related issues. Even if you haven't been following these practices, it's not too late to try and clean up your act on Facebook. While these guidelines might seem restrictive, being cautious about your Facebook activity can help you avoid damage to your career. If you do face any problems at school because of your online activities, make sure to contact your UniServ Director right away. Best practices for Facebook use: by the Hacker Law Firm