A few days ago Michael Pratt, an LDS seminary principal at Lone Peak High School in Highland, Utah, pleaded guilty to two counts of object rape and one count of forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies, and one count of forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony. He will be sentenced on August 31, 2010. It is unfortunate that for the many good and moral teachers in the community one scumbag like Pratt can not only steal the spotlight but can also warrant the creation of stricter and more invasive policy within school districts. Thanks Pratt. Did it really take you all this time to realize that you were guilty, or were you still convinced that god was okay with your sexual rendezvous with a minor under the guise of a religious example.
I teach at Mountain Ridge Junior High, which is one of the middle schools that feeds into Lone Peak High School. Just recently in a faculty meeting our principal addressed the teachers of Mountain Ridge about Facebook. Paula, our principal, stated that teachers should not be Facebook friends with any student currently attending a school in the Alpine School District. I can definitely see the merit in this policy and the protection this policy can offer teachers against allegations of inappropriate relationships with students, but the timing of this policy seems to coincide conveniently with the pervert actions of Pratt.
I have a Facebook page and for awhile I would accept friend invites from former students who were now attending the high school. I saw this as a way to keep in touch with these former students whom I cared about. These are the same kids that I had spent so much quality time in the classroom teaching, mentoring, and advising. I had devoted time to planning lessons that could help these kids learn not only history and geography but to be better individuals, classier citizens, and empathetic young people to different people around the world. Some of these kids looked up to me and depended on me to remain constant in their lives over the duration of the school year.
Before I started accepting friend invites from former students I thought about what would be the best thing to do with this situation. I decided that I would not accept a friend invite from any student currently enrolled at Mountain Ridge Junior High. There would be no need to do this because these students had access to me before, during, and after school in my classroom, through my school email, or by calling to my classroom phone. But to my former students they did not have this accessibility, nor did they need it. In fact, it would be inappropriate to have former students calling my classroom, coming regularly to visit my classroom (although once in a while to catch up I think is okay) or emailing me. I think these types of communications should be academic. Facebook, on the other hand, would be a way to keep in touch with former basketball players whom I coached. They could tell me about upcoming games. Maybe that student who's father committed suicide just wants to check in like they did the school year when the tragedy happened.
I am starting to ramble so I will try and finish. Is Facebook outside of the scope of a public educator? I am conflicted with this, although I accept the current Alpine School District policy and see the merit and judgement for the policy. What is next? There are some really neat web 2.0 tools out there that are already great for college students and professors (youtube, blogs, wikis, etc.). Are these doomed at the secondary level? I know that the Facebook account I maintained was strictly blocked as to what my former students could see, hear, or watch with regards to my personal life. This ensured my privacy and the appropriateness of what my former students knew about me. It maintained a level of integrity which is vital in the educational profession. Will the present trends in school district policy hamper more appropriate classroom web 2.0 tools like wikispaces or classroom blogs?
No comments:
Post a Comment