Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category

A high school honor student in Pennsylvania created a parody MySpace profile for his principal that included such comments as “Birthday: too drunk to remember.”

Suspended by the school and banned from extracurricular activities, 17-year-old Justin Layshock and his parents sued on the grounds that his First Amendment rights were violated and won, including $10,000 in compensatory damages.

In its 2011 ruling upholding the student’s victory, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decreed, “It would be an unseemly and dangerous precedent to allow the state, in the guise of school authorities, to reach into a child’s home and control his/her actions there to the same extent that it can control that child when he/she participates in school-sponsored activities.” The court felt that the parody – circulated to a limited number of the student’s classmates — did not create a substantial disruption of the school.

A student in West Virginia did not fare as well in her legal challenge of a …

Continue reading Where do schools legally draw the line on online pranks, bullying and insults? »

Fulton County is using surplus funds to award teacher bonuses this year, a move that ought to be cheered by the county’s teaching force. But the decision is proving divisive given the plan to award classroom teachers  $1,000 and those who “support teachers”  $500.

The school board voted last week to spend $9.4 million in surplus funds on employee bonuses to make up for missed raises.  Classroom teachers will receive $1,000. All other full-time employees in support roles and in central office will receive $500. See the AJC story here.

An educator who falls into the support category said she was unhappy with school chief Robert Avossa’s explanation for the disparity, an explanation that she felt denigrated her efforts, commitment and professionalism.

“Most of us would agree that in a school system, you have two groups of employees – teachers and those who support teachers,” said Dr. Avossa. “We value the contribution that every employee makes to our system, so everyone is …

Continue reading Fulton’s surprise bonuses: Do they create two classes of educators? »

One of the Facebook photos that a "parent" complained about in an anonymous e-mail

A Superior Court judge ruled against ex Barrow County teacher Ashley Payne, who resigned in 2009 after an anonymous e-mail was sent to the district complaining about her Facebook page. The case garnered international attention because of the role of the popular social media site in costing the young teacher her job.

Barrow had argued that Payne’s “writ of mandamus” — a judicial remedy to compel compel the system to restore her job –  should be dismissed for several reasons. Among them: Payne’s contract had already expired so her request to initiate Fair Dismissal Proceedings was void.

“The judge did grant Barrow’s motion for summary judgment on the mandamus claim, indicating that for technical reasons, mandamus is not available. However, all the other claims we made in our amended complaint are still pending,” said Payne Monday night in an e-mail.

The court decision was not unexpected …

Continue reading Court rules against Ashley Payne in Facebook case. But more to come. »

One of the Facebook photos that a "parent" complained about in an anonymous e-mail

Not a week goes by when I don’t get an e-mail from somewhere around the world asking about the fate of Ashley Payne, the Barrow County teacher who lost her job two years ago after an anonymous e-mailer sent Facebook photos of her sipping wine and drinking beer in Europe.

While the case was in court last week, it remains unresolved. A decision is expected shortly but Payne’s attorney is not optimistic that she will regain her high school teaching position.

“Not yet. I don’t think it is happening,” said attorney Richard Storrs in a telephone interview today. “There is a new superintendent, and I was really hoping that this new superintendent would see things in such a way that we could move forward. But they are dug in more than ever.”

Now in graduate school at the University of Georgia, Payne said in an e-mail today,  “I don’t think winning my job back has been a possibility since my contract …

Continue reading Facebook case two years later: Barrow teacher still waiting for decision »

More fallout from Facebook. This developing case out of Douglas County re-inforces the problems to schools from student postings on Facebook. In this case, the middle school took strong action, but I wonder if the actions will hold up if there are court challenges.

Where the school might have crossed a legal line is when the principal ordered the 13-year-old girl who called her teacher a pedophile online to log onto her Facebook account so the official could read the offending post and ensuing responses by her friends.

(Can someone explain why parents let young kids have Facebook pages? I still don’t get that as it seems ripe for abuse and problems.)

Take a look at the updated story on the AJC.

According to the new AJC story:

The investigation by Douglas County school officials resulted in the suspension of Alejandra Sosa and two other Chapel Hill Middle School students. They could face harsher penalties, including banishment to a school for children with behavior problems, …

Continue reading Facebook poses problems to schools and raises privacy, free speech questions »

As an avid news reader, I always think I have read the most outrageous story of the month and then another one pops up on my screen.

Here is the latest article that makes me think we’re raising a generation of kids with no sense, no impulse control and no boundaries. I also don’t understand why so many parents allow their young kids to be on Facebook. It is a larger arena for them to make dumb decisions.

I think adolescence has always been a time of dubious choices, but the web magnifies those bad decisions and creates audiences for them.  What surprises me is that these students did not consider that the web also makes it easy to track such plots/jokes and the architects of them. Most kids I know in middle school are aware that the web offers little privacy and that one indiscreet message can end up being viewed by 100 people.

I am also surprised by the light suspensions that these girls earned; their actions strike me as deserving of more severe responses. I admire the …

Continue reading “Attack a Teacher Day:” Are we raising idiots? »

Update on Tuesday: Folks, I wrote about this because of the Facebook element, which has been a big topic here at the Get Schooled blog because of cases involving teachers. But this has turned into a melee about the football league and its management. I have taken down several inappropriate comments. Please stick to the topic. I am also pulling out a response from the coach himself to provide more balance. Maureen

Here is the coach’s comment to the blog:

Hey Folks,

I am the guy you are all talking about. When I was interviewed by the Atlanta Journal & Constipation reporter, for 20 minutes, I told her how my family housed an African-American family for 4 months who lost their house due to a foreclosure, but all you saw were “tasteless” jokes between me and my Hispanic, African-American, Jewish, Female and Married to Hindu-American friends on Facebook. We took the African-American family in not because I was looking for some sort of pass to Heaven, but because it was the right …

Continue reading A Gwinnett coach trips over his Facebook postings »

This is one of Ashley Payne's Facebook photos from Europe that an anonymous e-mailer said made her an unfit role model for Barrow students.

Ashley Payne – the Barrow County teacher who lost her job over unsubstantiated and spurious claims that she allowed students access to her Facebook page — remains unemployed and still waiting for her day in court.

I have touched base with Payne or her attorney every few months, as the hearing on the highly controversial case was initially scheduled for August but has yet to occur. She has not found another job in teaching, although she very much wants to return to the classroom.

The AJC has a news update today on the case, which hinges on who sent an e-mail to the Barrow superintendent alleging that Payne had inappropriate photos and comments on her Facebook page and that she had “friended” students.

The anonymous e-mail, which came from a fake e-mail address, was allegedly sent by a parent but the tenor and the language suggested that a …

Continue reading Facebook and teachers: Barrow case remains in limbo; teacher remains unemployed »

While ex Barrow County teacher Ashley Payne still awaits her day in court over the Facebook page photos of her trip to Europe that landed her in hot water with her principal and to a resignation that she maintains was coerced, other teachers continue to get in trouble over their social networking sites.

Among the latest casualty: A Massachusetts school administrator  resigned at the end of last week after posting on her Facebook page that the parents in her upscale town were  “arrogant” and “snobby.” June Talvitie-Siple was the program supervisor for science and math at Cohasset High School until school officials found out about the comments.

The 30-year veteran also posted that she was, “so not looking forward to another year at Cohasset Schools.” And she called students  “germ bags.” Unlike Payne who limited her Facebook page to her friends, Talvitie-Siple had not restricted the wall of her Facebook page. Parents spotted the comments and alerted the superintendent who asked …

Continue reading Facebook and teachers: Still a potentially dangerous combination for your career »

Should a teacher have a right to do anything more than steam when a student posts on Facebook or MySpace that she was the worst teacher ever? Can students post photos of their principals with the captions “Big whore” and “big steroid freak.”?

Ken Paulson, president of the Newseum and First Amendment Center, is a former co-worker of mine back when I used to work for a newspaper in Florida. He takes on these thorny issues in an op-ed in USA Today.

(He was one of those journalists with a law degree, so he had great depth on legal issues and, as this piece shows, still does. I think law and journalism are a great pairing.)

I am torn on this issue, as I think such postings contribute to a toxic environment in schools, but I also value freedom of speech, even when the speech is idiotic.

I also worry that the kids themselves do not understand not only the injury to their victims from their juvenile rantings, but to their own futures. I know prospective employers who have eliminated …

Continue reading Can students call their principal a “big steroid freak” or worse on the Internet with impunity? »