Cunningham leaves Facebook provisions out of revised bill

Though the Facebook provisions of Sen. Jane Cunningham's SB 54 have been removed, the reworked bill still calls for far more than Gov. Jay Nixon asked for when he placed the bill on the agenda for the special session that began today.

Mrs. Cunningham's revisions still include the requirement that all Missouri school districts devise a policy covering teacher communication with students. Nixon asked that the entire social networking part of the bill, including that provision, be repealed and did not leave room for any revision.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Education Committee.

The reaction to the bill caught everyone off guard with Mrs. Cunningham continuing to label MSTA as hypocritical because it initially supported the bill, as did MNEA. However, neither organization ever consulted its membership about the Facebook provisions of the bill or that support would not have existed.

And Mrs. Cunningham has still not shown how the social networking provisions in her original bill would prevent even one crime from taking place.

If the same logic were to be applied to guns, Mrs. Cunningham would be screaming to high heaven about the violation of her Second Amendment rights.

Apparently, First Amendment rights are not a big concern to her, particularly when they belong to classroom teachers.