Should Online Privacy for Educators Exist?

Suspended Teacher in Facebook Incident Ignites Debate: Should Online Privacy for Educators Exist?

By: Grace Zacharuk

            A Charlotte, North Carolina Teacher was suspended from teaching after she made a comment regarding the school she worked at. Her Facebook profile was meant to be private, but somehow the comment became public and was seen by a television network, while they were searching for those who had identified themselves as staff members of Thomasboro Elementary School. The teacher claimed she set her profile to private, but perhaps didn't save the settings after she changed them, setting them back to default.

                

              The question asked in this article is, should online privacy for educators exist? And yes, I believe it should. Each person has their own work life, things they do strictly for work and at work. When we clock out at the end of the day, we should have the ability to do and say what we would normally do in our lives, and not have them catered around work policies. The comment made by the teacher was expressing her opinion about the school, “I am teaching in the most ghetto school in Charlotte.” Once the comment was discovered it sparked a debate among teachers, parents, administrators, and privacy advocates regarding the free speech for teachers. The teachers’ involvement in social networking sites was questioned, as to what the district policy should be, and how much is really private according to the online settings.

                

               When The Charlotte Observer published an article addressing the situation, people had commented saying that firing the teacher is too harsh a punishment. She was merely expressing her opinion, which she has the right to do, and perhaps didn't quite understand the privacy settings on Facebook, like many other people. BluNews wrote, “I doubt that this will be the last time we hear about something like this. School systems should set policy on issues like this and warn teachers that negative postings about their jobs could lead to disciplinary actions.” In all fairness, teachers should be allowed to have an opinion and speak it too.