Teacher placed on leave for questionable Facebook posting

[Peikko 1,575]

Danno doesn't object because of the privacy/vursus public argument, but because a picture of someone pointing a gun = someone holding a kitten.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Danno doesn't object because of the privacy/vursus public argument, but because a picture of someone pointing a gun = someone holding a kitten.

If she were holding the gun and was also openly gay, and also pregnant while single - Danno would be splitting his hairs.

[Peikko 1,575]

Danno doesn't object because of the privacy/vursus public argument, but because a picture of someone pointing a gun = someone holding a kitten.

If she were holding the gun and was also openly gay, and also pregnant while single - Danno would be splitting his hairs.

Or, it might produce a meltdown .

[Jasman0717 9]

Danno doesn't object because of the privacy/vursus public argument, but because a picture of someone pointing a gun = someone holding a kitten.

If she were holding the gun and was also openly gay, and also pregnant while single - Danno would be splitting his hairs.

Or, it might produce a meltdown .

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

It's facebook so it's her business. If it was the schools website it would be different.

[HAL 9000 96]

Danno doesn't object because of the privacy/vursus public argument, but because a picture of someone pointing a gun = someone holding a kitten.

If she were holding the gun and was also openly gay, and also pregnant while single - Danno would be splitting his hairs.

Or, it might produce a meltdown .

While posting that she was considering an abortion. !

[britty 1]

people need to mind their own business, get a life, and stfu. Who cares what she posted on FB ? Do-gooders - hate them all. Twits.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Social networking is pretty common these days and there is some overlap between the public and the private.

She shouldn't have been suspended, but she should certainly have been a bit more mindful of what she put online.

[Laura+Tom 2]

If that was in the UK the armed police would be on her doorstep lol. In a crackdown on gun crime they are searching all UK facebook/myspace accounts for pictures of people posing with guns.

[DeadPoolX 9]

If that was in the UK the armed police would be on her doorstep lol. In a crackdown on gun crime they are searching all UK facebook/myspace accounts for pictures of people posing with guns.

Maybe so, but the firearm control situation is a little different in the U.S. than the UK.

Am I reading this story incorrectly or does it look like school officials and/or parents found this image on the teacher's own Facebook page? She didn't show it off. Unless this teacher had logged into Facebook on school computers and was using school time to interact with her Facebook account, I fail to see why this is a problem.

This is her private life (although perhaps not too private, considering it's Facebook) and she's free to do whatever she wants within the law. So what if she posts a picture of herself with a gun? Unless she was showing her students the photo AND telling them "how cool guns are," this isn't a school-related issue.

Honestly... how many students are going to look up their teacher on Facebook? I'm sure students have more interesting things to do than peruse a page about someone who assigns them book reports.

Unless this teacher was abusing her position and teaching "Firearms 101", this isn't an issue for school administrators or parents to get upset over.

Edited February 8, 2009 by DeadPoolX

[HAL 9000 96]

She could be holding an aborted fetus in her arms and it would still be, technically, her business.

Facebook allows account holders to make nearly every aspect of their accounts private so that employers, customers, friends, etc... can access only what you want them to.

If you are in a public contact position with minors... then perhaps you should consider what to post as public and what access you grant others.

[DeadPoolX 9]

She could be holding an aborted fetus in her arms and it would still be, technically, her business.

Facebook allows account holders to make nearly every aspect of their accounts private so that employers, customers, friends, etc... can access only what you want them to.

If you are in a public contact position with minors... then perhaps you should consider what to post as public and what access you grant others.

I agree that she should have made her Facebook private. Maybe she did and one of her contacts complained. I could easily imagine some other teachers are on her contact list.

Regardless, it's hard to believe that a simple photo performing a legal act (and most likely for or with her friends) could cause work-related issues. It's not like she walked onto campus with a gun or wrote she wants to "shoot up the school."

[Peikko 1,575]

Look at it another way though.

Teacher posts a picture of herself training a gun at the 'camera'. 1 year later, teacher comes into school with a gun, shoots all the kids in her classroom.

The children's parents will rightly or wrongly make a connection that the picture was an indication that the school were aware that the teacher was a threat to their children.

*NOTE: This is a totally 'what if' situation, I am in no way suggesting this was or could be the case*

The school have to make judgments on these situations and sometimes the err on the side of caution. Are they wrong to do so?

[Peikko 1,575]

Bear in mind the teacher has been placed on admin leave, not suspended. It could be they are simply being extra cautious and making intensive investigations in order to be sure that she is not a threat to the school or the children in her care.

[HAL 9000 96]

She could be holding an aborted fetus in her arms and it would still be, technically, her business.

Facebook allows account holders to make nearly every aspect of their accounts private so that employers, customers, friends, etc... can access only what you want them to.

If you are in a public contact position with minors... then perhaps you should consider what to post as public and what access you grant others.

I agree that she should have made her Facebook private. Maybe she did and one of her contacts complained. I could easily imagine some other teachers are on her contact list.

Regardless, it's hard to believe that a simple photo performing a legal act (and most likely for or with her friends) could cause work-related issues. It's not like she walked onto campus with a gun or wrote she wants to "shoot up the school."

And I haven't seen the pic in question... but seriously... people should really think before posting something on the internet that shows them doing something that perhaps might not be seen in its appropriate context. I mean, just read the posts in this thread, rife with speculation, analysis, and opinions about rights and privacy without really considering the nature of a social networking site.

As a former teacher, my facebook friends include former colleagues and former students whom now are at the university level. If I feel like limiting access, then I do so. Its called paying attention to what it is I am posting. No need for me to post pictures of my disconnecting life support from Discovery's hibernating crew back in 2001. Sure... the kids could look up the movie they made dramatizing the experience and all... but seriously...

...The last thing HAL 9000 needs is to have some ticked off parent yapping about me killing off my ship's crew in the past and that somehow affecting the student-teacher classroom dynamic.