New York City has issued its first social media guidelines for public school teachers.
The guidelines, which stop short of an outright ban, urge teachers to reject friend requests or other contact with students on their personal accounts.
Department of Education officials said there are no consequences for not abiding by the guidelines as long as other policies about appropriate contact are followed.
See Also: City Lays Out Digital Rules For Teachers (via WSJ)
See Also: Full Text of Official NYC Dept. of Education Announcement About Guidelines
As with any activity, we expect all DOE employees to adhere to the same professional standards of conduct on social media sites as they would in any other setting. Our guidelines were created to provide support and information to Department of Education employees who use social media technology for educational and school-related activities. For example, a teacher might establish a Facebook page for a seventh grade English class to discuss key issues related to a piece of literature; or, an art instructor might create a Flickr page to display student art work.
New York City Department of Education Social Media Guidelines (5/1/2012)
[…] New York City Dept. of Education Releases Social Media Guidelines for Teachers | LJ INFOdocket New York City has issued its first social media guidelines for public school teachers. The guidelines, which stop short of an outright ban, urge teachers to reject friend requests or other contact with students on their personal accounts. […]