How much is too much?

[Bicycle Bill]

1. Take the phone and smash it. At least that is the action the teachers took when we traded baseball cards during class back in the good old days. They took them and tore them in half. They did return the pieces at the end of class.

You could get away with that when you were dealing with ten-cent-a-pack baseball cards. Nowadays, the school board would go broke between the lawsuits and reimbursements for smashing up someone's $250.00 smartphone.

Off-topic, I now own a very interesting wooden Duncan yo-yo with inset rhinestones that my father, a former teacher, confiscated from a junior h/s student back in the early 1950s. The kid never came to reclaim it, either at the end of the day or the end of the school year, so it's been my father's (and upon his demise, mine) ever since.

-"BB"-

[ph4ever]

I don't know the answers, but here's some stuff to ponder...

Should a teacher's personal home computer be considered public property if he/she accesses the school network via VPN? WMS

Back in the day when students passed notes in class, did teachers read the notes they confiscated? Is that any different than cell phones today? Mine not only read them but read the aloud to the class

Do teachers really have time or the desire to read what is in a student's phone? I believe it's not the teacher that goes through them but rather a school adminstrator or resource officer

Should a teacher be fired if their Facebook page shows a picture of them in an environment with alcohol? Say, a Buffett tailgate.

(insert 'noeyedear-shrugging' smilie here)

Regarding your last question. It depends on the school and the school district and if their district has morals clauses in their contracts. I've got a friend who is a teacher and she simply will not register with facebook because she knows of teachers in her district who have been fired because not only what they posted but also what others posted on the teachers facebook. I know when I chaperoned my son's band trip one year and I smoked, those of us that smoked including a teacher had to hide from the students when smoked during rest stops. Even though we were off school property we had to do this. 4 adults, behind a truck stop hiding behind the dumpsters smoking like kids in high school.

[chippewa]

Slightly off topic... (don't look so surprised )

Back when Mrs. Chip had a school-issued laptop, if she had created the next great novel on it (even while on break), the school could have claimed it was their property. Since it was, in fact, created with their property. They never even looked at the laptops once issued, but it was there in the fine print.

Also, I rolled my eyes years ago when some schools started programs to pay kids for good grades. Now there's a program to pay the parents, too. Shouldn't parents be acting in the best interest of their kids for free? (I know, we're not living in Mayberry anymore)

link

The experiment - thought to be the first of its kind to offer incentives to parents and students - will allow students to earn up to $440 for passing short math tests. Parents will get the same amount for their children's performance, and they can earn an additional $160 for attending eight conferences with the teacher to review the children's progress.

[ph4ever]

Slightly off topic... (don't look so surprised )

Back when Mrs. Chip had a school-issued laptop, if she had created the next great novel on it (even while on break), the school could have claimed it was their property. Since it was, in fact, created with their property. They never even looked at the laptops once issued, but it was there in the fine print.

Also, I rolled my eyes years ago when some schools started programs to pay kids for good grades. Now there's a program to pay the parents, too. Shouldn't parents be acting in the best interest of their kids for free? (I know, we're not living in Mayberry anymore)

link

The experiment - thought to be the first of its kind to offer incentives to parents and students - will allow students to earn up to $440 for passing short math tests. Parents will get the same amount for their children's performance, and they can earn an additional $160 for attending eight conferences with the teacher to review the children's progress.

That's just total bs IMHO. School districts are cutting back on activities such as choir, theater and band and doing BS like this.

[Brown Eyed Girl]

How about if a school turns on a web cam of a school supplied laptop while the student is at home and records what is going on? Don't scoff a SD very near to me is now going to be spending a lot of money in legal defense and the eventual damages to the students and family.

Easy solution...schools shouldn't give out laptops with webcams.

Seriously though...it is food for thought. To me, a webcam on a "loaner" laptop is inviting problems, and I'm not sure why the kids would need them (this coming from a non webcam user, so if you know of valid reasons, please fill me in). Monitoring of a webcam at a student's home gives me the heebie jeebies. I just can't think of any instance where it would be justified, when there would have to be other means of getting the same information.

My understanding is that if the school district owns the laptop, then they have the right to access anything saved on the computer, as well as the history. The same is true for laptops that may be given to staff. And I'm sure this is spelled out in any contract the kids/parents/staff are supposed to read and sign in order to be given the laptop.

I think PetalMel's explanation is the closest to what the districts I'm familiar with use. I'm not aware of district's randomly monitoring use, but if there is enough evidence of a threat or bullying that could result in a dangerous situation, then they probably have to take a look. If it's a cellphone, I imagine that would be restricted to a few most recent texts/pics, not an entire history. Leave that to the lawyers. It's kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If the school district has some inkling of trouble and doesn't intervene, they'll get slapped with a lawsuit. If they do intervene, someone will cry out "invasion of privacy" and the district will get slapped by a lawsuit. Want to know why all school districts are broke? Find out how many lawsuits they're dealing with.

Long before mp3 players and cellphones became a permanent accessory, Walkmans were not allowed on our elementary campuses. If they were found, they were confiscated for the year, kept by the Principal. Somewhere along the way the rules changed, and the next thing I knew kids were taking them (and later on, mp3 players) for the bus ride on a field trip...where they might be on the bus 1-2 hours. WTF? They can't carry on a conversation with their friends for that amount of time? I used to spend an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes each way on the school bus every day, so this just boggles my mind. What have we done?

[tikitatas]

link

The experiment - thought to be the first of its kind to offer incentives to parents and students - will allow students to earn up to $440 for passing short math tests. Parents will get the same amount for their children's performance, and they can earn an additional $160 for attending eight conferences with the teacher to review the children's progress.

[ejr]

I work at a private high school that has changed our policies on this. No faculty can be Facebook "friends" with any current students, or any alum under 18 because of legal liabilities. We also are very carefully talking to the kids about cyber-bullying, and will have a member of the local police department come in--this is her area of specialization, and it has become a huge issue. I also make sure the kids know that colleges and employers are looking at this stuff so kids need to be very careful of what they post. We have also purchased a filter that will block social media so it cannot be accessed on school grounds, even with non-school devices.

Our cell phone policy now prohibits their use during school--they must be turned off. While we may confiscate a phone for abuse of that policy, for a day or longer, I cannot imagine that we would turn one on and look on it.

Both these issues are rapidly evolving issues in schools, and the laws are not always current with the technologies, but we are trying to maintain the integrity of the school day, and the school atmosphere, protect our kids, and limit our legal liability.

[sunseeker]

The ONLY time I could see that a school has the right to say anything about what a child does outside of school is if it is a PRIVATE institution and the student has signed an honor pledge. Those usually have a code of conduct as a part of their honor pledge....