Minden staff

School Law and Technology for the Minden Staff

Karen Haase (402) 804-8000 karen@ksbschoollaw.com KSB School Law @KarenHaase

This is not your Grandma’s Inservice

Social Networking  Examples • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Snapchat • Vine • Kik

Teacher Use  Causes for Concern • Drug/Alcohol Use • Sexual Inappropriateness • Inappropriate Communication with Students • Inappropriate Communication about Students • Selling School Property

Nebraska Law  NEB. REV. STAT. §§79-824, 79-827  Reasons for Termination and/or Cancellation: • Unprofessional Conduct • Immorality • Other conduct which interferes substantially with the continued performance of duties

My Suggestions  Make a professional page separate from your personal page  Don’t “friend” students or parents on your personal page  Don’t let yourself be depicted behaving unprofessionally  Ask: will this affect my classroom?

Social Media is Here to Stay  Ed. Professionals are using social media • • •

85% of Americans use social media monthly Twitter grew over 500% in the last year More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than big 3 networks created in 60 years

 Facebook dominates social media • • • •

500 million users as of July, 2010 50% of active users log on daily Average user has 130 friends Largest group of users aged 35-54

Cyberbullying of Staff

J.S. v. Blue Mountain Sch. Middle School Student made fake MySpace profile for principal • Included photo from school website • Initially public; then limited • Students could only access off campus • Student suspended for 10 days; parents sued

Layshock v. Hermitage Sch. High School Student made fake MySpace profile for principal • Included photo from school website • Other students created similar and more offensive profiles • Students only accessed off campus • Student suspended for 10 days; placed in alt. sch, banned from extracurriculars, no commencement

J.S. and Layshock Inconsistent  Third Circuit granted en banc rehearing  Oral Argument June 3, 2010  Decision issued June 13, 2011  The Bottom Line?

• Schools lost both cases

J.S. and Layshock  Key legal points • School can’t punish off-campus speech because it is vulgar, inappropriate or even criminal • School can only punish offcampus speech that is substantially disruptive

Yik Yak

Rumor/Confession Accounts

Rumor/Confession Accounts  Anonymous Twitter feeds  Allow other Twitter handles to submit private messages to the owner of the rumor account  Messages are tweeted “anonymously” for anyone to read  Some mention specific people, others are general

Poof

Hide it Pro

Poof/Hide It  Allows users to select apps that will be hidden on phone  Sometimes appears as innocuous app (e.g. audio player, calculator)

Whisper

Whisper • Users can post confessions anonymously, using images • Searchable by topic • Searchable by location • Lot of photos of scantily clad men and women with a/s/l

Down (Bang with Friends)

Down/BWF  Users can look through Facebook friends  If any of them also have the app then you can anonymously pick the ones would like hook up with  If the other person also picks you then the two of you are notified  Then app serves as a chat system

School Law and Technology for the Minden Staff

Karen Haase (402) 804-8000 karen@ksbschoollaw.com KSB School Law @KarenHaase