Using the headline "Safeguarding kids online trumps threat from storms," the News-Leader editorial says it is so important that students be protected from teacher predators that Gov. Nixon should sign the bill:
We acknowledge and applaud how the venue was used to pass along important information and find friends and loved ones, as well as to organize volunteers, donations and even counter protests.What kind of logic is that? Where is the evidence of how many of those children were reached through social networking sites? I totally agree that the sexual exploitation of children cannot be ignored, but there is nothing in the social networking provision (or in the rest of the bill for that matter) that does anything to improve that situation.
But we also know that sexual predators have and will use such media to prey on young children, so we support a bill sponsored by state Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, that would restrict private e-communication between teachers and students.
The May 22 tornado that struck Joplin was a one-time disaster, but the sexual exploitation of children is an ongoing disaster that cannot be ignored. In 2010, 110 children under age 18 were known victims, according to the Missouri Sex Offender Registry.
The only people who will be penalized by this provision are the students and teachers who have used Facebook and other social networking sites properly. Those teachers who bring shame on all of us will either find other methods of getting through to their prey (proximity is their greatest weapon, but there are still many other avenues of reaching children) or they will simply ignore the law. It is obviously not going to be that easy to enforce.
Just like Joplin residents who now have to get prescriptions to get medicine containing pseudoephedrine just because a minority are abusing it by making meth, the only ones who are punished are those who would never consider breaking the law.
The News-Leader encourages Gov.Nixon to sign the bill, using these words:
It is an important tool that includes several provisions aimed at curbing predatory adults who work with children in our schools.I totally agree, but this bill does nothing to accomplish that goal. A much wiser avenue would be to enforce the ones we already have on the books and begin throwing the book at those who break those laws. Far too many times, we have seen teachers not even being charged with crimes or being given probation for sexual offenses with students.
Those predators are the real disaster.
Just as we have emergency plans to keep our children safe from storms, we must have plans to keep them safe from adults who would also leave destruction in their path.
A law addressing that might have done some good, but that would have been targeted at judges and prosecuting attorneys and those are not Sen. Jane Cunningham's targets.
This legislation, just like many of the other bills she has sponsored over the years, is aimed directly at teachers.
Fortunately, for teachers who believe in the educational value of social networking, the News-Leader editorial board, in its infinite wisdom has a solution to the problem:
News-Leader reporter Roseann Moring shared one Joplin teacher's plea that the bill, which is on the governor's desk now, be vetoed in light of how useful social media sites were following the tornado. Teachers were able to determine the well being of students who could not be reached any other way.What an idea. An official, school-sanctioned page for students to go to for information. What student would not want to visit that site?
We appreciate that concern but, as Cunningham pointed out, schools should plan ahead for such unexpected disasters. School-sponsored Facebook pages, monitored by district personnel, provide a reasonable way for teachers to interact with students in a safe and public environment.
Obviously, it has been at least a half century since the members of the News-Leader's Editorial Board have been students. That is the last place most students want to go.
The tornado that devastated this city May 22 was an easy angle for the story on the Jane Cunningham bill and it was one worth exploring, but this has never been about the tornado. The use of Facebook after that horrific event was simply the best example possible of the power of using social media responsibly.
Teachers have been using Facebook and other social networking sites effectively with students for a long time and though I am sure they exist, I have yet to hear of one using it irresponsibly. Sadly, other positive uses of social networking, and there are many, have not been explored by the media and probably never will be.
11 comments:
Why is it that pretty much everyone but you Turner thinks that it is necessary to pass a law preventing pervo teachers from accessing underage students after hours over social media?
So give it up, Turner. You sound like a pervert all pissed off that he can't get to kids after hours. You need to be made to have a sort of proper distance and this law creates this proper distance.
It is ridiculous listening to Turner yap about when a tornado hits and the electricity and Internet is down that then is the time and place for Turner to get on Facebook and look for bruises on the kiddie's private parts. When this sort of thing happens, nobody much cares about Turner's hurt feelings at being shut out from the kiddies because they have a lot of other things to worry about.
The law has been duly passed, signed, and has overwhelming approval. So get over it and stop whining. You better obey this law because you will be under scrutiny.
I'm with you on this, Randy.
Randy, excellent response to the irresponsible SN-L editorial.
Thanks to your vigilant blog, I know Senator Cunningham's legislative history aimed to undermine public education/teachers.
I suspect this bill also fits Cunningham's modus operandi, i.e. it places a direct association with teachers to "pervos" (see "Stop Whining" 7:50 AM).
And why should we take a political hack seriously that she cares about the well-being of children when her recent legislative history includes a bill to loosen up child labor law.
Bah.
-pp
You have yet to see a teacher use facebook irresponsibly because you don't want to see it. There are ezamples of teacher student interaction online in an inappropriate way all over cyberspace.
The issue, Randy, is why would you need to have CHILDREN contacting you outside of school on your personal page. If a teache rwants to utilize social media - that's great, but it should be a page set up specifically for that purpose, NOT the teacher's personal page. There's no defensible reason for you or anyone else to argue that students should have access to your personal page. It blurs the lines between teacher and student - and teachers like you who insist on it only encourage the paranoia of folks like Jane.
They (congress)should clean their own house before they worry about others. There are as many if not more pervs in politics than they are in the teacher ranks.
There is actually quite a bit of support for the Cunningham bill, which is why it passed. But of course the public school teachers, who regard our children as 'theirs' for purposes of indoctrination and employment, can't see why they need to butt out of family concerns outside school time.
There is going to be a cutting of government programs as they are unsustainable in a time of budget recession and cuts. Like it or not, these public employees are going to have to 'let go' of children and trying to meddle in their lives as what will be needed are stronger families, not a bigger public school system, which has failed.
There is no legitimate reason for teachers to get involved with their students outside the classroom and school hours without the knowledge and permission of these children's parents. Parents have enough predators to worry about without having to worry about the local teachers having improper access to their children behind their backs. What do we have to do -- cut off Internet access to our homes in order to keep Teacher Chester away from our kids while we are trying to work to feed, house and clothe our children? Our children, not yours!!!
Anon 5:03
Re your public employees Koch brothers playbook rant:
"Meddle"? "Let go of our children"? Road apples.
If you're worried about "improper Chesters", don't send your kid to a private Christian camp that starts with a "K".
@ Stop Whining: Speaking as a teacher who frantically looked for students online after the tornado, I did find over 20 very quickly. They in turn told me who they knew was okay, and etc., etc. So your logic isn't very strong, since this is exactly what did happen!
8:25 anonymous
Did you actually "find" 20 students? Were they lost? Were their parents searching for them?
I doubt that the wannabe chester teacher who 'found' 20 of his little students would be charged and prosecuted for breaking this law during an emergency. This law acts as a sort of line of permissible behavior. If a teacher obeys this law, then he or she cannot go past this law without committing a crime. Thus it acts as a sort of dividing line beyond which lies criminal behavior. Additionally, it provides for an 'aggravated' charge if they then molest the children outside the class. Thus this law is an effective law marking the boundaries. I fail to see why anyone other than a wannabe predator could be against this law as 'chicken-wire' defining the boundaries.
For those claiming that there is a necessity to tutor students in danger of failing this law provides having an official website for both students and teachers to interact in a professional setting of teacher/student. This Facebook page can be monitored by school administration and by parents. Thus there is less of a possibility for something untoward happening because of this public scrutiny. Because actual traching is provided for then there is no rational reason for private interaction between minor student and a possible pedophile teacher. What are they possibly going to discuss that cannot be discussed on the official school Facebook page authorized?
Public school teachers should be held to a higher standard. Your job is to be an effective teacher to all students in a public setting during the hours provided for such instruction. It is NOT your job to be real good friends -- or lovers -- of your immature charges after hours.
Thus this law which makes perfect sense. In fact, since it seems that you public teachers have an inflated sense of your 'rights' to be in unattended contact with children not your own, it would be better to simply provide only four years of taxpayer-financed public education, with a limited curriculum of only basic literacy, not the political correctness 'horse-apples' that some of you malevolent retards on the public tit 'think' is your just due, an entitlement in fact.
We simply cannot afford to continue with business as usual. There needs to be cutbacks, and greater public supervision of that which remains.
I have 2 comments here:
"Responsible" parents will have access to their kid's Facebook page and activities. For example: I sat in the breakroom at work one day and listened to a grandmother talk about her granddaughter and how she has a Facebook page. One of the young guys asked what her name was and pulled out his smart phone and pulled her up....asked the grandmother how old she was...she said 14...he said is this her...grandmother said "yes" and he said on her she says she is 17... Grandmother was appauled and told the dad that night. Please, don't say "my child would NEVER do that!" Please! What planet are you from....kids don't see anything wrong with sexting...but the Justice Department does...and they invite them to be on the Sex Offender Registry along with 760,000 other men, women and CHILDREN. I know a lady who is a councelor who has a teen son and says there is "no" electronic device in her home that she doesn't have access to. Why? Kids need parenting.
Second, read for yourself via studies from the Justice Policy Institute and Vera Institute who is most likely to sexually abuse your kids....
Lastly, you might want to study-up on the Missouri Sex Offender Laws with regard to teens....the Adam Walsh Act and SORNA will put more of them on the registry....I'm just sayin' stop attacking and arm yourself with knowledge.
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