Book Section Title Number Status Legal Adopted

BOARD POLICY MANUAL Section G: Personnel Staff-Student Relations GBH (Also JM) Active

August 18, 2009

The relationship between the Districts staff and students must be one of cooperation, understanding and mutual respect. Staff members have a responsibility to provide an atmosphere conducive to learning and to motivate each student to perform to his/her capacity. Staff members should strive to secure individual and group discipline, and should be treated with respect by students at all times. By the same token, staff members should extend to students the same respect and courtesy that they, as staff members, have a right to demand. Although it is desired that staff members have a sincere interest in students as individuals, partiality and the appearance of impropriety must be avoided. Excessive informal and/or social involvement with individual students is prohibited. Such conduct is not compatible with professional ethics and, as such, will not be tolerated. Staff members are expected to use good judgment in their relationships with students both inside and outside of the school context including, but not limited to, the following guidelines. 1. Staff members shall not make derogatory comments to students regarding the school and/or its staff. 2. The exchange of purchased gifts between staff members and students is discouraged. 3. Staff-sponsored parties at which students are in attendance, unless they are a part of the schools extracurricular program and are properly supervised, are prohibited. 4. Staff members shall not fraternize, written or verbally, or through the use of technology, with students except on matters that pertain to school-related issues.

Revised 3/27/12

5. Staff members shall not associate with students at any time in any situation or activity which could be considered sexually suggestive or involve the presence or use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs. 6. Dating between staff members and students is prohibited. 7. Staff members shall not use insults or sarcasm against students as a method of forcing compliance with requirements or expectations. 8. Staff members shall maintain a reasonable standard of care for the supervision, control and protection of students commensurate with their assigned duties and responsibilities. 9. Staff members shall not send students on personal errands outside of school buildings. 10. Staff members shall, pursuant to law and Board policy, immediately report any suspected signs of child abuse or neglect. 11. Staff members shall not knowingly contribute or fail to intervene in the harassment, bullying, or intimidation of a student. 12. Staff members shall not attempt to diagnose or treat a students personal problem relating to sexual behavior, substance abuse, mental or physical health and/or family relationships but, instead, should refer the student to the appropriate individual or agency for assistance. 13. Staff members shall not disclose information concerning a student, but should forward records requests to the Chief Academic Officer. This includes, but is not limited to, information concerning assessments, ability scores, grades, behavior, mental or physical health and/or family background.
SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES Internet-based social networks are rapidly growing in popularity and are used by all ages of society. The most popular social networks are web-based, commercial, and not designed for educational use. They include sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Xanga. For individuals, social networking sites provide tremendous opportunities for staying in touch with friends and family. Educational networking sites are also growing in use. These sites are used by educators for both professional development and as a teaching tool, and are usually restricted to selected users and not available to the general public. These include networking tools such as Moodle, educational wikis, specially created Nings, or individual school districts adoptions of online applications such as Saywire, Live@edu or Google Apps for Education. As educators, we have a professional image to uphold and how we conduct ourselves online impacts this image. There have been instances across the country of educators demonstrating professional misconduct while engaging in inappropriate dialogue about their schools and/or students or posting pictures and videos of themselves engaged in inappropriate activity. It is important to understand that educators online identities are very public and can cause serious repercussions if their online behavior is careless. One of the hallmarks of online networks, both social and educational, is the ability to friend others creating a group of others that share interests and personal news.

Revised 3/27/12

TPS prohibits and strongly discourages any staff member from accepting invitations to friend any TPS students within personal social networking sites except for those that are immediately family of staff members. When students gain access into a staff members network of friends and acquaintances and are able to view personal photos and communications, the student-teacher dynamic is altered in ways that potentially harm TPS and/or the staff member involved. By friending students, staff members provide more information than should be shared with students in an educational setting. It is important for all staff members to maintain a professional relationship with students and to avoid relationships that could cause bias or inappropriate interactions in the classroom. However, TPS recognizes the value of student/teacher and student/student interaction on educational networking sites. Collaboration, resource sharing, and student/teacher and student/student dialog can each be facilitated by the judicious use of educational networking tools. Such interactivity and communication can be a critical component of the educational environment and can greatly enhance face-to-face communication in the classroom. Since this is a new means of communication, however, some guidelines must still be followed when staff members engage in educational networking with students. Guidelines for use of personal social networking websites: Access to social networking websites during work hours is prohibited without exception. Staff members may not accept students as friends on personal social networking sites. Staff members must decline any student-initiated friend requests. Staff members must not initiate or engage in extracurricular friendships of any kind with TPS students using social networking websites. This type of interaction with TPS students is strongly discouraged, and in appropriate cases, will be grounds for disciplinary action. Staff members must keep in mind that people classified as friends on a social networking website have the ability to download and share your personal information with others. Staff members are advised and required to post on social networking websites only what you would want the entire world to see. Remember -- your students, their parents, and TPS administrators can and will visit your postings. And once you post something on a social networking site, it may still be available to be viewed by others even after it is removed from the website. Staff members should never discuss students or coworkers on social networking websites. Staff members must visit their social networking website profile regularly to determine its security and privacy settings. At a minimum, staff members are expected and required to have all privacy settings set to only friends. Setting

Revised 3/27/12

Guidelines for use of educational networking websites : Staff members should advise fellow staff members and TPS parents of your educational network. When available, staff members are encouraged to use TPS-supported educational networking tools. Staff members must not say or do anything that you would not say or do inside a classroom or on school property. (Remember that all online communications are stored and can be monitored.) Staff members are encouraged to have a clear statement of purpose and desired outcomes from the use of any educational networking websites or tools. Staff members are encouraged to think through and establish a code of conduct for all educational network participants. Staff members must not post images that include students without parental release forms on file with TPS. Staff members must pay close attention to their sites security and privacy settings to allow only approved educational network participants to have access to the website.

Guidelines for use of all types of networking websites: Staff members must never use commentary that can be reasonably interpreted to be defamatory, obscene, libelous, or slanderous. Before posting anything on a website of any kind, staff members are encouraged to weigh whether a particular posting could place your effectiveness as a TPS staff member at risk. Due to security risks, staff members must be cautious when installing any external applications that work with a social networking site. Staff members are encouraged to maintain and run updated and current spyware/adware protection software to avoid infection by spyware and/or adware that social networking websites might place on your computer. Staff members must be careful not to fall for phishing scams that arrive via email or otherwise, providing a link for you to click, which can lead to a fake login page.

Revised 3/27/12

If a staff member learns of information via one or more social networking sites, and such information falls under any of the mandatory reporting requirements applicable to Ohio educators, he/she must promptly report such information, in writing, to supervisor, as required by law.

CROSS REFS.: JHG, Reporting Child Abuse JO, Student Records KBA, Publics Right to Know

Revised 3/27/12