Except for the employee’s children, nieces and nephews, or the children of close friends, do not initiate or accept social media “friend” requests from current students (of any age) or former students under the age of 18. If you believe you need to “friend” current or former students under the age of 18, you must get written permission from your supervisor or the HOS.
Use professional discretion when “friending” alumni 18 years of age and older. When doing so, recognize that many former students have online connections with current students (including younger siblings and underclassmen friends), and that information shared between recent alumni is likely to be seen by current students as well. Employees are discouraged from “friending” parents of current or prospective students due to the inherent conflicts of interest that may arise.
Note: Terminology describing the building of relationships online varies from site to site. “Friending” is meant to include the following: subscribing, adding as a contact, or any other term meaning establishing an online relationship between two people.
- School-Related Adult Friends (co-workers, supervisors and subordinates): Employees are asked to use good judgment when making or accepting “friend” requests to or from School colleagues. Employees in supervisor/subordinate relationships are particularly encouraged to use caution, due to the potential for both parties to feel pressured to accept the request, potentially impacting the work relationship (as well as raising conflict-of-interest, unequal treatment, discrimination or similar concerns.)
- Non-School-Related Friends: Employees should remind all other members of personal social networks of his/her position as an educator whose profile may be accessed by students and other members of the school community. Ask these individuals to monitor what they post to the employee’s network accordingly. This includes (but is not limited to) being “tagged” in photos on the sites of friends or others, especially where the photos may imply activities not appropriate for viewing by students and other community members.
- Groups in Employee’s Social Network: All employees are asked to use good judgment in visibly and publicly associating only with social media groups consistent with the mission of the School. At the same time, this provision is not intended to limit free speech, valid intellectual discourse on a wide variety of subjects or viewpoints. (See “Online Identity and Posting to Blogs” below.)