Your opinion... Teachers and Facebook

[iheartscience]

My whole point was that I think you do know what that kind of love is like, since you said you want to protect your child at all costs, no matter how irrational it is. I feel exactly the same way about my twin sister. Yes you and I are two different people, they're two different relationships, etc., but I bet our feelings are quite similar.

I would still do anything to protect her even now, and I'm SO much less of a panicky mess than I used to be. I would say I'm borderline cured when it comes to that. However, I would rather anything bad happen to me instead of her. And in case you were wondering, my paranoia and overprotectiveness still get on her nerves to this day! She helps keep me in check by telling me to shut it when I go off on a paranoid tangent about her not coming home late and going into her apartment by herself, etc.

I obviously have a lot of thoughts on this subject because of my experiences. I let those feelings of love and protection take over my life and so I have a need to break things down into rational and logical thoughts. If I ever have a kid, I know I'll have to break things down on a daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word?) basis because I'm POSITIVE I'll be a basket case otherwise. I'd probably end up homeschooling them in a compound if I don't make sure to look at everything from a rational standpoint and work through it.

I just think that at some point we (the collective we) are doing more harm than good with the "Is ANY risk worth it?" attitude towards everything. (The vaccination threads come to mind.) Anyway it's late, I'm sick and everyone probably thinks I'm insane now so I'll stop rambling!

ETA just saw your last post. That was 11 years ago (we were 17 when we started college) and not something that would happen today. The older I get, the better I get at being rational. Plus now I have the tools to deal with situations that get me panicky. And if I decide to have a kid I'll do everything in my power to make sure that my own issues don't cripple him/her.

 

[kimchi]

A teacher at my son''s HS just got herself into some very hot water over a similar issue. She had a blog that she had not told the kids or parents about, but was nevertheless public. On it she did not have pics of the kids but had posted that she thought her students were "stupid." While she had already given notice that she would not be returning next year, this cemented it. It was not a private email that someone hacked, it was a blog on the web, open to anyone.

On the pictures issue, I voted that I would call the principal. It is NOT ok to post pics of minors (even teenage minors) without parental knowledge and consent. Even then, Facebook is far too public a forum to be doing that. The teacher has crossed the line, big time.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

I'd be uncomfortable with a teacher who felt enough of a sense of ownership over my child that she thought she could share her pics with her friends. For their entertainment. Really? I would question her judgment, to say the least.

I decided not to post my child's photos in public sites, it isn't up to a teacher to substitute her judgment for mine. For me, this would be about privacy, respect and boundaries. I would be as mad as hell.

 

[perry]

I second the concept that we may be doing more harm by over-protecting.

Concerning the pictures:

I would have no problem with general class pictures that focus on the entire class or a group activity (Ms''s B''s class at the nature center, the 5th grade award winners, etc). These kinds of pictures have historically been published in various programs and annuals, or posted on the bulletin boards.

Individual pictures of specific kids (with names) I believe cross the line.


Perry

 

[HOUMedGal]

Even though she likely had no bad intentions in posting the pics, she needs to un-post them very quickly. She is setting herself up for trouble, even the potential loss of her job and her ability to get another teaching job in the future.

It is just plain unprofessional to post pictures of other people''s children on the internet without their knowledge and permission. In this technological day and age, professionals must be extremely careful with the information they choose to post on the internet, because when they do so, that information suddenly becomes available to potentially millions of people.

Honestly, I don''t think you even have to go into why it''s a potential threat to child safety...regardless of all that, it''s a simple breach of professionalism to take the liberty of posting pictures of someone else''s kid without their knowledge and permission.

I guess I''m particularly sensitive to privacy issues, being in the medical field. We have to be EXTREMELY careful about patient privacy....the HIPAA laws and the HITECH act are taken very seriously.

 

[zoebartlett]

If I was a parent, I would be livid if my child''s teacher posted pictures on any site. I''d be very upset, even if I had signed the video/photo release form required in schools. Photo release forms, as far as I know, are limited to school-wide activities (and the local media, if they come to cover an event). Social net-working sites don''t fall into that category. I would definitely call the teacher and maybe even the principal.

 

[bee*]

I would be furious if a teacher put my kids pic on their fb site. There is no need for it at all.

 

[Maisie]

I also don''t think it''s appropriate for teachers to post photos of their class. I would put in a complaint if it happened with my children.

 

[Maria D]

I''m a teacher and a parent, not paranoid in the least, and have a facebook account. I would would be livid if a teacher posted pics of my kid on her social networking site! It has nothing to do with paranoia but our right to privacy. If I want to post a pic of my kid on my site, fine but no one else gets to do that without my permission. For that matter, I wouldn''t post a pic of another adult online without their permission.

I don''t think the standard school waiver that parents sign allowing their child''s image to be used should allow this. Thanks for bringing this up Meresal, I''m going to check out the wording of the waiver that my school uses and make sure that it includes specific language about images being posted only on official school sites or news media. And yeah, Meresal, why is your friend taking a picture of kid cleaning up ink? Methinks this woman needs to to step away from the camera and focus on what she''s there to do -- teach!

 

[sparklyheart]

I used to date a teacher and he had a bunch of pictures of his kids that he had taken from field trips or different class events.. and honestly, it creeped me out SO much!! The pictures were of guys and girls and I didn''t think he would do anything with his students, but why do teachers need pictures of their students??? I kept asking him and he said because they all mean so much to him. I don''t think it''s appropriate for teachers to be taking pictures of their students. I don''t see how anything good can come of that. If anything were to ever happen, he has a computer full of student pictures.. and the teachers who post them on FB have that evidence.. It just seems all around bad.

 

[Lauren8211]

Completely inappropriate. I would not be happy as a parent.

 

[LadyBlue]

Date: 2/24/2010 11:34:52 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 2/24/2010 11:19:25 PM
Author: jas
Big ol'' no no. I''m speaking as a parent and educator. We were given all sorts of rules and regulations in grad school about sharing student work with other educators (outside of the school)...even with students'' knowledge.

Why does she have these pictures up?

No real reason, I don''t think. They don''t have a specific folder or anything. Usually just one random picture every couple of weeks or months. None of the kids are wearing any ''special'' outfit, like for Halloween or similar.

The pics from her old school were mainly the two children of a Dad that she really ''hit it off'' with. He was single, and she would babysit them after school. I think she felt like they were ''family'' and so it had something to do with the comfortableness. I am not sure if that Dad cared or not... he might have known.

She actually sent an email a few weeks ago. It was a picture of one of her students laying on the ground, cleaning up some paint that he had spilled.

She wrote: ''Is it bad that I am making my student clean up the ink that he spilled on our classroom floor?''
I replied: ''No, but taking a picture of him while doing it, and sharing it with your friends, probably falls under a different catregory.''

She did not reply.

My issue, is that there is no telling who she is friends with. If someone wanting to get back at her for something, like Tgal said, they could easily find out where she works and when she is there by her posts, and then there the kids are on the playground.
I know it sounds a bit CSI, but people are creepy and will do strange things to get your attention. Going after one of her favorite students might fall under that category.

If I was the parents of this kid, I will get her fired

If she was only posting 1 group picture a year, I will understand that. But she is humiliating the kids

 

[jas]

Date: 2/25/2010 4:10:34 AM
Author: Mrs Mitchell
I''d be uncomfortable with a teacher who felt enough of a sense of ownership over my child that she thought she could share her pics with her friends. For their entertainment. Really? I would question her judgment, to say the least.

I decided not to post my child''s photos in public sites, it isn''t up to a teacher to substitute her judgment for mine. For me, this would be about privacy, respect and boundaries. I would be as mad as hell.

Yes, for me it''s this issue. Is she using my kids to make herself look adorable? Responsible? Attractive? It''s all about how it makes the teacher look...or, as Mrs Mitchell said, amusing her friends, no matter how sweet the pictures of my kids are.

I don''t even like people tagging MY photo without asking me on FB...it''s not that I''m ashamed of the picture or my friends, it''s that it''s my face and as much as possible I like to know where it''s being shown and why...

Re: paranoia, yeah that''s there for me too. While I know rationally the odds are low low low for someone to take my little ones, the odds aren''t that low for someone to try to harm them, and I do not want ANYONE drooling over them inappropriately.

 

[Shoopy]

I don''t think I would go as far as to petition that the teacher get fired, especially if this is the only issue that I have with her. I would certainly request directly from the teacher first to take the photos down. If she refused, then I would go to the principal.

Facebook is known to have many predators and they have been investigated in the past for not doing enough to keep them out of facebook. It is so easy to create albums on facebook now-a-days, however the privacy settings are all held within the facebook application on a computer. If I create an album on my phone application, I cannot (and believe me I have tried) set up the privacy settings for it. So it becomes public for anyone to see (in and out of my network) until I can get to a computer and change the privacy settings.

Plus, for someone that doesn''t feel the need to be private they wouldn''t look twice at the settings which could mean that these photos are open to everyone in and outside of her network.

And as a funny side note, I''m a paranoid mom. I''ve never considered my paranoia as anything but rational

 

[Maria D]

I know a teacher who takes class pictures every year and then puts them on the wall of his classroom. He''s been there for a long time so there''s a lot of group photos! The new students like looking to find older siblings and friends and seeing how this teacher has aged over the years. If a kid doesn''t want to be in the group shot, he doesn''t force it but virtually all of his students look forward to "making it to the wall" at the end of the year.

So I don''t think teachers having pictures of their students is necessarily creepy. We do care a lot about our students. I have taken pictures of my students to post on donorschoose.org (which has its own permission slip for parents to sign) and have shown those pics to family and friends by referring them to the site. I also point out certain kids in these pics to my DH; the ones whose antics I''m prone to talking about. To me this is no different than pointing out that the grocery store bagger is "that kid in my math class I''ve been telling you about." But I don''t just carry around pictures of my students.

Is this a generational thing though? I know my students post pictures constantly on facebook and I know I''ve been in some of them. The kids'' cameras come out in my classroom when we have end of year parties. They don''t ask my permission and I don''t worry about it. What I do worry about is one of my students surreptitiously videotaping me and putting it on youtube! We have a sub at our school who talks and talks and is clueless about the fact that the kids are videotaping her babble with their cellphones. I know the vids have been posted on facebook because my daughter has shown me some of them. I wouldn''t really care if a video of me deriving the quadratic formula showed up somewhere but more than likely it would be one where I''m giving a kid detention for something!

 

[purselover]

The fact that it's just her and one or two students is really weird IMO. I don't think I would call the principal but I'd probably make a comment to my friend asking if the parents were okay with this.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Date: 2/24/2010 11:49:03 PM
Author: thing2of2
I don''t think she should do it.


At the same time, is one of her Facebook friends really going to hunt down a kid in her class and kidnap them? Sometimes I think the internet paranoia goes a bit far. All of the parents I''m friends with on Facebook have seriously hundreds of pictures of their own kids up. That''s probably more dangerous than a pic here or there with someone not even related to them.

I kind of agree with this - but I"m not a parent, so perhaps I would think differently if I had kids... I certainly find it an unusual choice for a teacher to make - and do not approve at all.

 

[junebug17]

I'm with the posters who say this is just unnecessary, I don't see a valid reason for these pics to be up, and I'm not a paranoid person...in fact, I'm probably guilty of being a little too lax and easy-going. But I just would not be comfortable with her posting pics of my kids on a public website without my permission and knowledge. As a parent I have a right to make that decision. In fact, she may be breaking a school policy by doing this. I'd contact her and tell her to take them down (and warn her she may be going against school policy). Oh, and posting a pic of a child cleaning up ink is, IMO, really weird. Not getting that.

Maria D said it well, it's not really paranoia for me, but more a violation of a right to privacy.

 

[katamari]

I don''t understand why telling the teacher and calling the principal are linked together. I am not a parent, but I find it inappropriate. However, I would feel much more comfortable talking to my friend about it than I would be to (secretly?) contact her superior who is likely to reprimand her, perhaps very seriously.

People''s identities are very strongly vested in their careers. I am sure this is why she find this appropriate as a way to present herself. I think you would be a better friend coming to her as a non-teacher and an (almost) parent to discuss why you have problems with it.

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/25/2010 11:36:56 AM
Author: katamari
I don't understand why telling the teacher and calling the principal are linked together. I am not a parent, but I find it inappropriate. However, I would feel much more comfortable talking to my friend about it than I would be to (secretly?) contact her superior who is likely to reprimand her, perhaps very seriously.

People's identities are very strongly vested in their careers. I am sure this is why she find this appropriate as a way to present herself. I think you would be a better friend coming to her as a non-teacher and an (almost) parent to discuss why you have problems with it.

Kat- The question/poll was in relation to how people would feel about thier own children being put online and what they would do if they found pictures, not about my specific situation. I put them together with an "and/or" to keep from having to make 2 different options for the exact same thing, essentially (I figured people would explain what they would do in the reply area). I have no intention of going to my friend's principal.

Thank you everyone for your replies. If anything, this has opened up my eyes of things to look out for once my child goes to day care and school.

The next time I see her, I am going to casually ask her if she has to get permission from the kids' parents in order to take their pictures during school and put them on the internet. I don't feel like it is my place to tell her what she should be doing...(I think I already made that pretty clear in my reply to her email.) Also, these aren't *my* kids so I feel a bit like I am overstepping to assume that her kids' parents would care as well. I'm not a teacher and don't know her school's rules. I just want to bring it to her attention.

Maybe she'll get the hint.

 

[rierie26]

Yeah, call me paranoid but I don''t want anyone posting pictures of my kids online, especially if it''s in school. That just gives strangers way too much information right there. Where my kid goes to school, what grade, who his/her teacher is, etc.

 

[katamari]

Date: 2/25/2010 11:54:48 AM
Author: meresal

Date: 2/25/2010 11:36:56 AM

Author: katamari

I don''t understand why telling the teacher and calling the principal are linked together. I am not a parent, but I find it inappropriate. However, I would feel much more comfortable talking to my friend about it than I would be to (secretly?) contact her superior who is likely to reprimand her, perhaps very seriously.


People''s identities are very strongly vested in their careers. I am sure this is why she find this appropriate as a way to present herself. I think you would be a better friend coming to her as a non-teacher and an (almost) parent to discuss why you have problems with it.

Kat- The question/poll was in relation to how people would feel about thier own children being put online and what they would do if they found pictures, not about my specific situation. I put them together with an ''and/or'' to keep from having to make 2 different options for the exact same thing, essentially (I figured people would explain what they would do in the reply area). I have no intention of going to my friend''s principal.

Okay. Gotcha. That just wasn''t how I first read it, so that is my bad. I think it is an option for someone who wouldn''t know the teacher, but would find out about the pictures otherwise.

 

[Haven]

Date: 2/25/2010 9:34:38 AM
Author: Maria D
I know a teacher who takes class pictures every year and then puts them on the wall of his classroom. He''s been there for a long time so there''s a lot of group photos! The new students like looking to find older siblings and friends and seeing how this teacher has aged over the years. If a kid doesn''t want to be in the group shot, he doesn''t force it but virtually all of his students look forward to ''making it to the wall'' at the end of the year.

So I don''t think teachers having pictures of their students is necessarily creepy. We do care a lot about our students. I have taken pictures of my students to post on donorschoose.org (which has its own permission slip for parents to sign) and have shown those pics to family and friends by referring them to the site. I also point out certain kids in these pics to my DH; the ones whose antics I''m prone to talking about. To me this is no different than pointing out that the grocery store bagger is ''that kid in my math class I''ve been telling you about.'' But I don''t just carry around pictures of my students.

Is this a generational thing though? I know my students post pictures constantly on facebook and I know I''ve been in some of them. The kids'' cameras come out in my classroom when we have end of year parties. They don''t ask my permission and I don''t worry about it. What I do worry about is one of my students surreptitiously videotaping me and putting it on youtube! We have a sub at our school who talks and talks and is clueless about the fact that the kids are videotaping her babble with their cellphones. I know the vids have been posted on facebook because my daughter has shown me some of them. I wouldn''t really care if a video of me deriving the quadratic formula showed up somewhere but more than likely it would be one where I''m giving a kid detention for something!

My former school had pictures of students all over the walls of the hallways and in offices.

I used to have pictures of my students all over my classroom, but they were in my classroom and not online for all to see. I agree with you, Maria, that it''s not bad to have pictures of your students if you are using them for certain purposes. The photos I had showed students bent over books, working on writing, engaged in discussions, delivering speeches at tournaments, and otherwise just enjoying themselves in school and being productive. I think they contributed to the classroom environment and promoted positive educational behavior.

My students would often bring friends in during passing periods and lunch to show off their pictures. It was really fun to hear "Look! That was when I started working on my research paper last term. I got a B on it!"

Facebook, however, is not the right venue to post pictures of students. The potential for exposure is too great.

 

[Smurfysmiles]

Date: 2/25/2010 9:34:38 AM
Author: Maria D
I know a teacher who takes class pictures every year and then puts them on the wall of his classroom. He''s been there for a long time so there''s a lot of group photos! The new students like looking to find older siblings and friends and seeing how this teacher has aged over the years. If a kid doesn''t want to be in the group shot, he doesn''t force it but virtually all of his students look forward to ''making it to the wall'' at the end of the year.


So I don''t think teachers having pictures of their students is necessarily creepy. We do care a lot about our students. I have taken pictures of my students to post on donorschoose.org (which has its own permission slip for parents to sign) and have shown those pics to family and friends by referring them to the site. I also point out certain kids in these pics to my DH; the ones whose antics I''m prone to talking about. To me this is no different than pointing out that the grocery store bagger is ''that kid in my math class I''ve been telling you about.'' But I don''t just carry around pictures of my students.


Is this a generational thing though? I know my students post pictures constantly on facebook and I know I''ve been in some of them. The kids'' cameras come out in my classroom when we have end of year parties. They don''t ask my permission and I don''t worry about it. What I do worry about is one of my students surreptitiously videotaping me and putting it on youtube! We have a sub at our school who talks and talks and is clueless about the fact that the kids are videotaping her babble with their cellphones. I know the vids have been posted on facebook because my daughter has shown me some of them. I wouldn''t really care if a video of me deriving the quadratic formula showed up somewhere but more than likely it would be one where I''m giving a kid detention for something!

Ditto all of this. If it is group photos I am pretty sure it is not something you can actually get in trouble for. I only say this because my father works in the teacher''s union and this issue has never come up though I''m sure it happens frequently. jmo.

 

[Smurfysmiles]

Date: 2/25/2010 12:16:19 PM
Author: Haven

Date: 2/25/2010 9:34:38 AM

Author: Maria D

I know a teacher who takes class pictures every year and then puts them on the wall of his classroom. He''s been there for a long time so there''s a lot of group photos! The new students like looking to find older siblings and friends and seeing how this teacher has aged over the years. If a kid doesn''t want to be in the group shot, he doesn''t force it but virtually all of his students look forward to ''making it to the wall'' at the end of the year.


So I don''t think teachers having pictures of their students is necessarily creepy. We do care a lot about our students. I have taken pictures of my students to post on donorschoose.org (which has its own permission slip for parents to sign) and have shown those pics to family and friends by referring them to the site. I also point out certain kids in these pics to my DH; the ones whose antics I''m prone to talking about. To me this is no different than pointing out that the grocery store bagger is ''that kid in my math class I''ve been telling you about.'' But I don''t just carry around pictures of my students.


Is this a generational thing though? I know my students post pictures constantly on facebook and I know I''ve been in some of them. The kids'' cameras come out in my classroom when we have end of year parties. They don''t ask my permission and I don''t worry about it. What I do worry about is one of my students surreptitiously videotaping me and putting it on youtube! We have a sub at our school who talks and talks and is clueless about the fact that the kids are videotaping her babble with their cellphones. I know the vids have been posted on facebook because my daughter has shown me some of them. I wouldn''t really care if a video of me deriving the quadratic formula showed up somewhere but more than likely it would be one where I''m giving a kid detention for something!

delivering speeches at tournaments

OT: haven are you a speech coach? I think that is fantastic

Speech was my favorite activity in high school, I loved it! I always competed in storytelling

 

[Haven]

Hey Smurfy--I was, yes. I was the head coach of my high school''s team, but I must admit I was a very under-prepared coach. I had never participated in speech, and the position was sort of forced on me, so it took a lot of learning to get into the whole thing.
I did love it by the end, though, despite the fact that coaching meant waking up at 4 AM on Saturdays and driving across the state!

 

[Clairitek]

I would probably feel weird about it and directly contact the teacher to remove pictures of my kid if I knew it was happening. I have a Girl Scout troop and I occassionally post pictures on the troop blog but its totally private and only the parents can see it (or other approved adults, relatives, etc.) I wouldn''t have dared put their kids pictures out there in public. The other reason the blog is private is because it details our activities, meeting times, etc. I''ll admit that I posted a couple of the pictures in a totally private/secret FB group for some friends to see. I would not have put the pictures on my main FB page without the permission of the parents.

 

[Lilac]

It would bother me. Like others have said, if someone sees the pictures and knows where the teacher works, it gives them access to the kids in the pictures.

I have two friends who are teachers - one avoids putting up pictures altogether of any students. The other has put up one album from a youth event he ran but he was sure to get permission from each parent of the kids in the pictures. Any parent who did not give permission, he didn''t put up any pictures with their kids in it.

 

[Smurfysmiles]

Date: 2/25/2010 12:22:12 PM
Author: Haven

I did love it by the end, though, despite the fact that coaching meant waking up at 4 AM on Saturdays and driving across the state!

A fond memory! NOT! lol I remember that as well

 

[janinegirly]

Agree with majority sentiment here. This is not ok and I would be outraged. I wouldn't be on some vigilante mission or anything but I would escalate to the principal so he could make ALL teachers aware this is not ok. Some of this may have innocent intentions, but come on -- post your OWN kids' photos and come up with your OWN stories to go on FB and blab about. FB and Myspace are great communication tools but yes, lots of freaks and predators. A picture out there has to be controlled and monitored and someone who is not the parent will not have that as much in their interest. And personally I believe only the parent/immeidate family gets to make the choice to post or not.