"Missouri Governor Signs Law Repealing Teacher Social Media Restrictions"

From Government Technology:

A portion of a controversial Missouri law that restricted the ability of teachers to interact with students on social media and websites has been repealed.
Gov. Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon signed Senate Bill (SB) 1 last week, eliminating Section 162.069 of SB 54 — the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act — which prevented teachers from using a work-related website or social media platform to communicate with students unless parents and administrators also had access.
The provision in SB 54 was also applicable to educators’ non-work, private website and social network use. In his signing message regarding SB 1, Nixon said the law was an improvement “primarily through subtraction” and while not perfect, having teachers “conform to the unreasonable restrictions” of SB 54 was a “far worse result.”
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The Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) isn’t entirely sold on the language of SB 1, however. Todd Fuller, MSTA’s communications director, said the new law is to be too “open-ended” regarding electronic communication by teachers on their free time.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but our concern is still going to be what happens district to district,” Fuller maintained.

Much More in the Complete Article
See Also: Full Text of Bill SB 1 and SB 54
See Also: Missouri alters policy on social media in schools (via Kansas City Star)
UPDATE: (10/30/2011): “Schools address use of social media” (via Newark Advocate)
News from Newark, Ohio.

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