[Dion]

Vancouver teachers are not going to be very “friendly” on social media sites come fall, should the Vancouver School Board adopt a new social media policy.

A draft of the proposed policy — believed to be the first of its kind in B.C. — will be debated at a committee meeting Tuesday afternoon.

“We want to take a proactive approach and encourage employees to use caution, common sense and sound judgment, and serve as good role models for our students,” said school board trustee Mike Lombardi.

The policy bans teachers from requesting or accepting students as “friends” on social networking sites for non-educational purposes and exchanging personal phone numbers, email addresses or photographs with students.

Gerry Kent, president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association, said his group supports examining the evolving usage of social media by teachers, but noted some items in the draft policy may be overkill.

“We are concerned about too many limitations put on how teachers use social media in their own personal life,” he said.

Teachers should not be expected to constantly monitoring their accounts, police other people’s comments on their pages, or be held responsible if their posts are forwarded or taken out of context.

“It’s finding that right balance between protecting the individual and the school, while at the same time isn’t overly restrictive and punitive,” said Kent, who sits on the committee drafting the policy.

Representatives from students, parents and teachers groups are expected to give their feedback on the draft policy Tuesday with a final version expected in June to take effect in September.

http://www.theprovince.com/technolog...671/story.html