Socially Acceptable Social Media

Interesting news on the social media front this week.

According to the New York Times, our friends in New York City recently issued a policy concerning the use of social media in the educational setting. 

Of note in the article:

The guidelines do not ban teachers from using social media and, in fact, recognize that it can offer tremendous educational benefits. Nor do they address cellphones and text messaging between teachers and students, which, according to a review by The New York Times of dozens of Education Department investigations in the past five years, have been more widespread and problematic.

But the guidelines do reflect growing concerns nationwide about the instantaneous ease with which teachers can interact electronically with students, and the potential for misuse or abuse. 

Here is the part of the actual policy I'd really love to see implemented in Montgomery County:

DOE employees should treat professional social media space and communication like a classroom and/or a professional workplace. The same standards expected in DOE professional settings are expected on professional social media sites. If a particular type of behavior is inappropriate in the classroom or a professional workplace, then that behavior is also inappropriate on the professional social media site;

If you watched the Board of Education meeting earlier in the week, you saw several of the folks at the table twittering during the open public comment.    Seems like that wouldn't be allowed in NYC, why do we tolerate that here? 

Perhaps we should rename our leadership the Bored of Public Education?

You can read the entire policy here:
Doe Social Media Guidelines 20120430