School Law and Technologyfor the
Minden Staff
Karen Haase(402) 804-8000
KSB School Law
@KarenHaase
This is not your Grandma’s Inservice
Social Networking Examples
• Facebook• Twitter• Instagram• Snapchat• Vine• Kik
Teacher Use Causes for Concern
• Drug/Alcohol Use• Sexual Inappropriateness• Inappropriate Communication
with Students• Inappropriate Communication
about Students• Selling School Property
Nebraska Law NEB. REV. STAT. §§79-824, 79-827 Reasons for Termination and/or
Cancellation:• Unprofessional Conduct• Immorality• Other conduct which
interferes substantially with the continued performance of duties
My Suggestions Make a professional page separate
from your personal page Don’t “friend” students or parents
on your personal page Don’t let yourself be depicted
behaving unprofessionally Ask: will this affect my classroom?
Social Media is Here to Stay
Ed. Professionals are using social media• 85% of Americans use social media
monthly• Twitter grew over 500% in the last year• More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60
days than big 3 networks created in 60 years
Facebook dominates social media• 500 million users as of July, 2010• 50% of active users log on daily • Average user has 130 friends• Largest group of users aged 35-54
Cyberbullying of Staff
J.S. v. Blue Mountain Sch.
Middle School Student made fake MySpace profile for principal
• Included photo from school website• Initially public; then limited• Students could only access off
campus• Student suspended for 10 days;
parents sued
Layshock v. Hermitage Sch.
High School Student made fake MySpaceprofile for principal
• Included photo from school website• Other students created similar and
more offensive profiles • Students only accessed off campus• Student suspended for 10 days;
placed in alt. sch, banned from extracurriculars, no commencement
J.S. and LayshockInconsistent
Third Circuit granted en banc rehearing
Oral Argument June 3, 2010
Decision issued June 13, 2011
The Bottom Line?
• Schools lost both cases
J.S. and Layshock Key legal points
• School can’t punish off-campus speech because it is vulgar, inappropriate or even criminal
• School can only punish off-campus speech that is substantially disruptive
Yik Yak
Rumor/Confession Accounts
Rumor/Confession Accounts
Anonymous Twitter feeds Allow other Twitter handles to
submit private messages to the owner of the rumor account
Messages are tweeted “anonymously” for anyone to read
Some mention specific people, others are general
Poof
Hide it Pro
Poof/Hide It Allows users to select apps that will be hidden on phone Sometimes appears as innocuous app (e.g. audio player, calculator)
Whisper
Whisper•Users can post confessions anonymously, using images
•Searchable by topic•Searchable by location•Lot of photos of scantily clad men and women with a/s/l
Down (Bang with Friends)
Down/BWF Users can look through Facebook
friends If any of them also have the app
then you can anonymously pick the ones would like hook up with If the other person also picks you
then the two of you are notified Then app serves as a chat system
School Law and Technologyfor the
Minden Staff
Karen Haase(402) 804-8000
KSB School Law
@KarenHaase
