Scituate eyes teachers' use of networking websites

School officials in Scituate are proposing to direct teachers and staff about appropriate use of social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, raising questions about whether school systems should interfere with employees' personal activities.

Scituate officials say they are trying to address the liabilities presented when teachers and students maintain online communication on these increasingly popular websites. The proposed policy, state officials say, appears to be the first to tackle teachers' use of the online sites.

A draft of the policy "advises employees to avoid any inappropriate interaction with students who are also posting to Social Network Websites." However, the brief statement does not define "inappropriate" behavior, nor does it include possible punishments. School officials are seeking legal advice to help determine the consequences of improper teacher conduct.

Several Boston-area teachers said they use the sites, but expressed the opinion that they should be considered professional enough to manage them without interference from school districts.

Scituate's proposal, some say, illustrates a generation gap between young, Internet-savvy teachers and veteran administrators.

"You have young teachers entering the profession who grew up with the Internet and MySpace," said Luc Schuster, a 26-year-old member of the Cambridge School Committee. "There's a culture that's more free and open with that type of posting that might not translate well to an older administration."

Scituate school officials say the policy, which they expect to be in place next school year, would not prohibit educators from maintaining an on line profile, or from maintaining a relationship with students through that profile. Officials said they had no knowledge of employees engaging in inappropriate behavior with students, or posting explicit content on line.

"If there are predators out there, the fact that the school has a policy certainly is not going to deter anybody," said Michael Hayes, vice chairman of the Scituate School Committee. "But I think it is good that we make a general policy stating that we're aware of the current technology and we encourage students and teachers to use it properly."

Laura Lawson, president of the Scituate Teachers Association, said she approved of the draft Superintendent Mark Mason submitted to the School Committee. She said that the policy is not intended to infringe on anyone's First Amendment rights.

"We just want to make teachers aware that when they post something on a public domain the world can see it," Lawson said. "Whether it's on their personal or private time, it won't stay private for very long."

Last spring, a high school art teacher in Austin, Texas, was asked to resign after school officials learned that she had posed in explicit photos available on Flickr, a photo-sharing website. In January, a teacher from Palm Beach County, Fla., pleaded guilty to using America Online Inc. and MySpace to solicit sex from a former student.

Such cases have made school officials consider whether to limit the way teachers interact with students on the Web. Paul Toner, vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said he cautions teachers to be aware of their role in the community because people can misinterpret the actions they take online. He noted that the line between a teacher's public and private life is often unclear.

"I'm not sure if you can draw a bright shining line for teachers but people need to use their common sense," Toner said.

Teachers disagree on whether they can safely interact with students on the social-networking sites.

Eric Esteves, a program director at TechBoston, a division of Boston Public Schools, said that by interacting through the sites, teachers and students are embracing technology.

"I think we have much bigger fish to fry, in the real world, as opposed to debating policy about virtual worlds," said Esteves, who keeps in touch with about 25 current and former students through his Facebook profile. "There's language in the hallways that's not being controlled as much as it should be, as opposed to controlling language on a website."

Dan Greening, a manager of technology for the South Boston Education Complex, said that he has denied "tons" of requests from students to maintain a relationship online because he thinks it is inappropriate for students and teachers to communicate through an "uncontrolled" and "unregulated" medium.

"If you want to talk to me, send me an e-mail," the 25-year-old said.

But he said maintaining a MySpace profile is necessary in his part-time job as a DJ. "It's an awesome promotional tool for any night-life events," he said.

Aware that students use the sites, Stephen McClain, an 11th-grade humanities teacher at the Social Justice Academy, part of the former Hyde Park High, keeps elements of his Facebook profile inaccessible to users with whom he does not maintain a relationship online.

"If I have some stuff on there that I may not want [my students] to see, then I could be in trouble," said McClain, also a graduate student at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. "And I also don't want to send the wrong message to my students."

McClain said he does not think school districts should weigh in on their employees' online personas, "but I also think you're a professional and you should always cover your back."

April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com.