Teacher-Student Relationships? No More “Hot For Teacher” | Parenting

Things are certainly getting confusing in the world of teenagers, teachers, and the use of the Internet. And what has a lot of us buzzing this week is The Amy Hestir Protection Act put into place in Missouri in July.

Here are the lines that are causing the stir:

No teacher shall establish, maintain, or use a work-related Internet site unless such site is available to school administrators and the child's legal custodian, physical custodian, or legal guardian.

No teacher shall establish, maintain, or use a nonwork-related Internet site which allows exclusive access with a current or former student.

Responses are pouring in from across the country. They range from “Why should my child have limited access to her teacher?” to “Thank goodness we can watch what some of the teachers are writing to our kids. My daughter’s English teacher must have been barely 25 himself.”

The truth here is that while teacher-student relationships are mostly positive and all about teaching from the right lesson plans there are among teachers some bad apples. And we remember all too well the stories of teachers heading off to jail after getting involved in shady and inappropriate liasons with their students. Teachers are not immune from making the same mistakes that other groups of individuals in positions of power make when around vulnerable group of individuals.

I am of the opinion that “The Facebook Law” is a good idea. Monitoring your child’s internet behavior and schools having access to teacher-student interactions may protect everyone.  Let’s face it-both good and bad things happen on the internet.

Your thoughts as your kids head back to school?