Students Off Limits On Facebook To Norton Teachers
NORTON (CBS) -- Choose your friends carefully…especially if you're a teacher in Norton.
Monday night, the Norton School Board passed a new Facebook policy. Teachers are not allowed to "friend" students on Facebook and other social media, and they're strongly discouraged from friending past students and their parents.
Parents think it's a good idea.
"They (students) say things that they know are jokes, but teachers might not know are jokes, and I don't want kids to be labeled unfairly," says one Norton mom.
The new policy also allows administrators to check up on teachers' behavior on social networking sites to make sure they're following the rules.
Now, only one day after that new policy was put on the books, Norton's School Superintendent tells us the administration is, "taking another look at it. In a few weeks, we'll probably have a revision."
Norton High sophomore Eric Berglund says he would accept a teacher's friend request.
"I think it's their decision. If they want to do it, if they think it's right, they can do it."
But his mother disagrees. "Too many things can get screwed up with the teachers and students having access," she says.
A spokesperson with The Massachusetts Teachers Association says it would be impossible to enforce, since Facebook has settings to keep friends lists private. "It seems like it was written by people who don't understand social media."
