Holcomb school's student-teacher policy required by state law

HOLCOMB, Mo. -- Holcomb School District superintendent Jeff Bullock wants to set the record straight about the Holcomb School Board considering a new policy concerning student-teacher interaction.

Bullock said an article published in the Daily Dunklin Democrat "caused a lot of questions and concerns about what our staff can and can't do with our students." He said the policy under consideration was not about prohibiting contact between teachers and students outside of school.

The possible policy came about following a release from the Missouri Association of Rural Education that suggested schools create a policy regarding off-campus electronic communication between teachers and students.

According to the release, the Missouri House of Representatives recently passed the Student Protection Act, which requires every public school district in Missouri to have a written policy concerning teacher-student communication that addresses the appropriate use of electronic media.

If the Student Protection Act is passed by the Senate and signed into law, teachers will be prohibited from establishing, maintaining or using a work-related website unless it is publicly available on an open-access network.

Also, teachers may not be able to have a non-work-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student.

Basically, the Student Protection Act would prohibit teachers from having social networking pages, such as MySpace or Facebook, and personal websites of their own.

The release suggests that all schools in Missouri should protect themselves now by instituting a balanced off-campus electronic communication policy that should emphasize that staff members maintain a professional relationship at all times and clearly define the permissible forms of off-campus communication between teachers and students.

Bullock said the school will be looking at creating a policy based on the recommendation from the Missouri Association of Rural Education that should keep off-campus student-teacher communication from becoming a problem.