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