Louisiana no teacher/student contact..

Airraider, I have been told many times that the football field is just an extension of the class room. I would absolutely say that what you are using technology for is part of educational services.

airraider I would think that what you are doing is perfectly fine. I also think that it is really sad that the world has come to this point. We should be in a place to encourage contact between teachers not limiting them, but the actions of a few misguided people may just spoil it for us all.

Yea.. or call or text the parents would be a good way to make sure they are aware of times and places so they can hold their child accountable for being there..

Eh..brophy...as an educator, and an adult...I would ask OTHER than educational related services(including extra curriculars) why would a school employee have the need to electronically contact a current student???

Oh no.. the ones I am speaking of are legit cases of sexual contact with students..

One involved a local head basketball coach exposing himself to a female student.. one involved an assistant fb/softball coach texting pictures of himself to a girl who he thought he had a "relationship" with.. the other involved a head softball coach that had been having sexual relationships with his players for more than 15 years.. and in the mix of that investigation.. they found out about an assistant football coach having sexual contact with young girls at the school.

It happens.. WAY more than people probably think..

I'm gonna side with Brophy, the ones who're doing something wrong won't be stopped because of this new wrinkle, they're going to make the same bad decisions they were going to.

Does this make untargeted postings such as twitter/blogs/etc a no-no as well?

This is typical of the way that bureaucrats think- when in doubt pass a zero-tolerance policy.

Years ago they did that with guns- a toy gun = an AK47. Automatic expulsion. So who got expelled? A 7 year old kid who had a half-inch sixshooter keychain that he got out of a bubble-gum machine. I felt safer immediately.

Yep:

HOUSE BILL NO. 570
BY REPRESENTATIVES HOFFMANN, HENRY BURNS, CHAMPAGNE, CORTEZ,
DOVE, FOIL, LITTLE, PERRY, PUGH, ROBIDEAUX, SIMON, SMILEY, JANE
SMITH, AND THIBAUT AND SENATORS APPEL, CROWE, DUPLESSIS,
KOSTELKA, MICHOT, SMITH, AND WALSWORTH

Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana.
1 AN ACT
2 To enact R.S. 17:81(Q) and 3996(B)(21), to require the governing authority of a public
3 elementary or secondary school to formulate, develop, adopt, and implement
4 policies, procedures, and practices applicable to school employees relative to
5 electronic communications by an employee at a school to a student enrolled at that
6 school; to provide policy guidelines and requirements; to provide limitations and
7 exceptions; to provide that the occurrence of certain electronic communications be
8 reported by the school employee; to provide for immunity from civil liability; to
9 provide an effective date; and to provide for related matters.
10 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
11 Section 1. R.S. 17:81(Q) and 3996(B)(21) are hereby enacted to read as follows:
12 §81. General powers of city and parish school boards
13 * * *
14 Q.(1) Each city, parish, or other local public school board shall formulate,
15 develop, adopt, and implement, by not later than November 15, 2009, policies,
16 procedures, and practices applicable to school system employees relative to an
17 electronic communication by an employee at a school to a student enrolled at that
18 school.
19 (2) The policies, procedures, and practices required by Paragraph (1) of this
20 Subsection, at a minimum, shall:
21 (a) Define electronic communication. The definition shall recognize the
22 multiple means available for making such a communication, both those that facilitate

HB NO. 570 ENROLLED
Page 2 of 4
CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.

1 direct communication, including but not limited to voice or text-based
2 telecommunication devices, or both, and computers, and those that facilitate indirect
3 communication using an intermediate method, including but not limited to
4 Internet-based social networks.
5 (b) Require that all electronic communication by an employee at a school to
6 a student enrolled at that school relative to the educational services provided to the
7 student shall use a means provided by or otherwise made available by the school
8 system for this purpose and prohibit the use of all such system means to
9 electronically communicate with a student for a purpose not related to such
10 educational services except communication with an immediate family member if
11 such communication is specifically authorized by school board policy.
12 (c) Specify that the occurrence of any electronic communication made by an
13 employee at a school to a student enrolled at that school or that is received by an
14 employee at a school from a student enrolled at that school using a means other than
15 one provided by or made available by the school system shall be reported by the
16 employee in a manner deemed appropriate by the school board. Records of any such
17 reported communication shall be maintained by the school board for a period of at
18 least one year.
19 (d) Specify that it is a duty of a school system employee to comply with the
20 policies, procedures, and practices and provide that a failure to comply may result
21 in disciplinary action, and in extreme circumstances may constitute willful neglect
22 of duty.
23 (e) Establish and provide for the imposition of consequences for a violation
24 of the policies, procedures, and practices, including but not limited to termination of
25 employment in accordance with applicable provisions of state law.
26 (f) Provide a means for the timely reporting and investigation at the school
27 system level of an alleged failure by a school employee to comply with the policies,
28 procedures, or practices and for concluding such an investigation and resolving the
29 allegation.

HB NO. 570 ENROLLED
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.

1 (g) Provide a means whereby any alleged failure by a school employee to
2 comply with the policies, procedures, or practices that also may be a violation of
3 state or federal law is reported to the proper authorities.
4 (h) Provide a means to assure that all school system employees are informed
5 fully of the policies, procedures, and practices and the possible consequences at the
6 school and school system level for a failure to comply.
7 (i) Provide a means to assure that a parent or other person responsible for a
8 child's school attendance is fully informed of the policies, procedures, and practices.
9 (j) Provide a means for a parent or other person responsible for a child's
10 school attendance to request that the child not be contacted through electronic
11 communication by any school employee unless the purpose of such communication
12 is directly related to the child's educational services and is sent to and received by
13 more than one student at the school.
14 (3) Any city, parish, or other local public school board having existing
15 policies, procedures, and practices relative to electronic communication by an
16 employee at a school to a student enrolled at that school shall conduct by not later

They have no problem firing them here in Virginia.

Read the bill and as a person impacted by this bill, I don't have any problem with it. It seems to specifically allow for "exceptions" and seems to be flexible enough allow extra curriculars to make electronic contact. It is against the law for someone to enter my home...but I still lock the door. They can circumvent this, but I still lock the door.

Like someone above said. Send word through your captains

I think dave cisar has a great point. I think this gives schools a method to go after folks who do this. (Use electronic communication for things OTHER than education.)

That is why we have school policies and/or laws, for students and staff to follow, and for districts to "prosecute" those who don't.

Its just a consequence of the litigious society we live in.

It seems like a silly rule, but until its a rule/law, we can't prosecute the offenders.....or at least couldn't prosecute them as easily......

I like this idea. It gives the captains more responsibility which can carry over into their on-field leadership skills. I also agree with Phantom, this doesn't seem like something that would be prohibited but it would be prudent to make sure your admin will back you on that one.

A coach here in the Richmond area took over a losing team and had 'em on the upswing, was doing a great job, text messages and alleged contact occurred with a female student. I assume someone bailed him out but needless to say his career in coaching is probably over and he may be facing jail time. There are two sides to every story and from what I've heard the girl in question is considered wacko by some of the kids but he had to have known better than to do something that would offer even a hint of impropriety.

Always good advice to remember the quote from the old Hill Street Blues sergeant: "Let's be careful out there."

So right. I don't pretend know the whole story, he may have been a complete dirtbag or she may have instigated the whole thing, the truth probably lies somewhere in between. Whatever the reality of it was he let his guard down and it cost him. I'm sure it will come out in the end, but either way people will remember what was printed in the paper when the news first broke. A sad thing either way...