Survey of T+L attendees suggests most districts lack policies addressing the use of social-networking sites by students

Only 35 percent of the educators, administrators, and school board members who registered for the National School Boards Association's (NSBA) recent 2006 Technology + Learning (T+L) Conference and responded to an e-mail survey said their districts had policies to address the use of social-networking sites by their students. Fifty percent said their districts had no such policies, and the remaining 15% were unsure. The most common approach for districts that do have a policy is use of a firewall or filtering software to block student access to these sites at school. Other respondents said their district’s policy requires students to sign an acceptable-use policy making it clear that unauthorized use of these sites during school hours is prohibited. Interestingly, few responses included teaching students about responsible use of online social networks-a point NSBA's executive director Anne Bryant notes. "It is important to keep in mind that just blocking access to social web sites at school is not the end of the story," she says. "Most of the misuse of these sites takes place at home, but still affects the classroom. We have to teach our students about the safe and proper use of social web sites."

Thirty-six percent of those polled said students' use of MySpace and similar sites has been "disruptive" to their school district's learning environment. Of these, about two-thirds cited the posting of inappropriate content or personally identifiable information, 40% cited cyber-bullying or "causing too much time off task" were problems, and one in four cited the creation of false pages for administrators or teachers. Despite the pitfalls, online social networking holds great potential as a learning exercise. For example, Jim Hirsch, associate superintendent for technology at the Plano Independent School District in Texas, says social-networking sites can help connect students in the U.S. to their peers in other countries, providing invaluable lessons in foreign cultures. In order to "mitigate the risks as much as possible," Harold Rowe, associate superintendent for technology at the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Texas, believes schools can do things like train students to avoid the traps set by online predators. With 21 million school-age children using social networking sites and one in seven school children receiving unwanted online solicitations, Ron Teixeira, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, believes this is a moral imperative. While websites such as MySpace and Facebook represent a legitimate vehicle for students to interact and form new relationships, he says, they also can be hotbeds of illegal activity. He argues schools shouldn’t wait for local and state legislatures to align outdated statutes with quick-moving technologies. He recommends educators visit his organization's website to download free resources, activities, and lesson plans.

Although education and school board guidelines can be effective tools in fighting cyber-victimization of children, there are legal limits to the measures school officials can take. In an online discussion hosted by NSBA during the conference, attorney Kimberly Jessie, an associate at the law firm Bracewell Giuliani, answered questions regarding legal issues pertaining to student use of social networking websites. Ms. Jessie pointed out that unless there is a "substantial disruption to the educational environment," school officials are limited in their ability to take any action if students post offensive or inappropriate material outside of school. Her recommendations included letting parents know that teachers have been successful in filing individual lawsuits against students and their parents. "One teacher recently won a $500,000 lawsuit for defamation because of this issue," she noted.