By Simone Wilson from LA Weekly via Huffington Post | http://huff.to/GDdrM9
<< LAUSD's new social media policy means educators could be disciplined for inappropriate posts.
3/20/2012 8:15 pm / Updated: 03/20/2012 11:17 pm :: A new policy bulletin out of Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters tells teachers -- and any other adult associated with the district -- that they'd better keep their social-media persona in check.
Actually, the new policy was put in place almost two months ago. But until the news wire mentioned it in an article today on LAUSD's hot new social-media director, it seems to have passed quietly under the radar.
Anyway -- it's about time. The need for a new social-media policy became apparent last April, when El Sereno Middle School teacher Nicole Tsugranes called a student "fat" in a typo-riddled Facebook post (ouch), and added "STOP raising lazy ass freaking kids!" as an aside to parents.
Employers have launched a war on employees' Facebook privacy the nation over. And LAUSD's new social-media guidelines, too, fall definitely on the harsher end of online policing.
A couple of the more alarming bits:
- Users should have no expectation of privacy regarding their use of District property, network and/or Internet access to files, including email. The District reserves the right to monitor users' online activities and to access, review, copy, and store or delete any electronic communication or files and/or disclose them to others as it deems necessary.
- Posting inappropriate threatening, harassing, racist, biased, derogatory, disparaging or bullying comments toward or about any student, employee, or associated person on any website is prohibited and may be subject to discipline.
In the bulletin, the district warns personnel about how confusing it can be to maintain one's privacy settings (LOL), and says that "postings of a serious nature" can be subject to the same punishment as "violence, bullying and threats" in the workplace.
Aka, "removal from the premises, disciplinary action and/or criminal penalties."
Damn. United Teachers Los Angeles, the local teachers union, posted a memo in response to the new policy. "Educators are held to higher standards than the rest of the working world," it says, somewhat passive-aggressively. Also: "UTLA professional staff and legal counsel are reviewing the memo."
(Today, a UTLA spokeswoman tells the Weekly that the union "does not have any comment about LAUSD's new social media policy.")
Ever since Superintendent John Deasy took over, the school district has been waging a long-overdue war on UTLA. In the aftermath of the massive Miramonte sex scandal, he has blamed the union for protecting teachers with a possible past of abusing children.
These social-media restrictions are clearly another step in Deasy's admirable quest to hold teachers responsible for misconduct. But do they go too far?
The strict new regs don't merely apply to teachers. They can also crack down on...
... parents, parent-elected leaders of school committees, representatives and volunteers, consultants, contracted employees, walk-on coaches, child care/enrichment program providers, vendors and after-school youth services providers.
Now if only the Los Angeles Police Department would update its own policy on Tweeting photos of dead bodies and the like.
LAUSD Hires Ex-Journo Stephanie Abrams as New Social-Media Director in Wake of Sex Scandal
By Simone Wilson , LA Weekly | http://bit.ly/GGDcIp
CBS2 - Stephanie Abrams joins the crusade to re-legitimize LAUSD.
Tue., Mar. 20 2012 at 11:15 AM :: One thing we can say about new L.A. Superintendent John Deasy, after a year on the job: He sure knows how to smooth over a scandal.
After longtime Miramonte Elementary teacher Mark Berndt was arrested in early February for allegedly spoon-feeding his semen to third-graders, an explosion of similar allegations at other LAUSD campuses has created a culture of panic within the district. (And the pervs just keep coming.)
Superintendent Deasy was immediately aware that superb PR was the key to emerging from this witch hunt alive:
He rushed to the scene of each crime, speaking openly to reporters about his own heartsickness and vowing swift action. (Even though the past actions of the district's elected Board of Education, in response to teacher misconduct, have been anything but swift.) Deasy took extreme measures, replacing the entire staff at Miramonte and ordering LAUSD principals to raid their campus' file cabinets for any and every scrawled allegation of bad teacher behavior.
Some argued Deasy's measures were too extreme. But that was beside the point. The superintendent's plan to shift the blame off LAUSD -- and use it instead to lobby the teachers union and Sacramento lawmakers -- was decidedly a slam-dunk.
Next step in the proactive reputation campaign: Social media.
Yeah, you'd think the second largest school district in the nation might have jumped aboard that train about a decade ago, but California's public agencies have a tendency to cling to the Stone Ages. And former Superintendent Ramon Cortines, though loveable, seemed more than a little out of it near the end.
Enter Stephanie Abrams, former CBS2 reporter on the boob and technology beats, among others. (No, not Stephanie Abrams the weather woman, who has a storied -- read: YouTubed -- legacy of racy outfits and Freudian slips.)
"I'm here to bring LAUSD into the 21st century," Abrams tells the LA Daily News. "We're completely breaking new ground here. The breadth of what we're doing is massive."
| Thank you Ms . Abrams for getting us to proficiency with Twitter. http://fb.me/13gyLJTle |
John Deasy Looks like we just lost another soldier to the PR machine! Last month, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- likewise known for his obsession with a positive public image -- hired two former journalists onto his huge public-affairs team.
Since Abrams was picked up by LAUSD, the district's Twitter account has done a complete 180 from stale once-a-month announcements to a more lively feed of student accomplishments, links to pro-LAUSD news stories, Deasy RTs (of course) and a crapload of exclamation points.
According to the Daily News, "the philanthropic Goldhirsh Foundation is paying $87,000 of her $93,300-a-year salary, with the district picking up the balance."
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Walt Arrrrr @Waltarrrrr The official LAUSD Facebook page and YouTube account are taking off as well. Because nothing helps us move on from horrific sex-abuse allegations like feel-good photos of science projects and won decathlons.Bul-5688.0 Social Media Policy
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