Teacher placed on leave for questionable Facebook posting

[Dan J 277]

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."

Guns at schools are a very sensitive issue, especially with the acts of violence that have happened at schools in the past few years. Such a picture probably wouldn't have been a problem with other employers, although you can certainly get fired for posting pictures that reflect poorly on the company.

You are best off not posting your picture at all, or making sure that your public profiles cannot be connected to a particular employer. Even on here, most people don't mention where they work. Only what they do.

[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."

Guns at schools are a very sensitive issue, especially with the acts of violence that have happened at schools in the past few years. Such a picture probably wouldn't have been a problem with other employers, although you can certainly get fired for posting pictures that reflect poorly on the company.

You are best off not posting your picture at all, or making sure that your public profiles cannot be connected to a particular employer. Even on here, most people don't mention where they work. Only what they do.

Well I think that's because there's a few wackos, literally... that are not sound of mind-enough to be allowed within a few blocks of us and with the ease of lifting a facebook pic and using for false purposes... well... you get the 'picture.' Then there's the rest of us that are more than likely quite normal.

But certainly... buddying up with a perceived gun-freak (and that may not be the case in this example) would not really be the best way to raise a growing child to cope with society's ups and downs.

[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.

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.

Yeah I know it's different, hence the lol.

[Ban Hammer 13,659]

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.

now that's scary.

[britty 1]

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.

now that's scary.

... because all the villains in the UK are posting their pics on FB holding a gun. Honestly, I am ashamed of the UK and the stupidity of the police force.

[Danno 1,228]

So is the "pose" the object of objection, or is it simply the gun?

What if the photo was of her deer hunting or at a pistol rang?

[HAL 9000 96]

So is the "pose" the object of objection, or is it simply the gun?

What if the photo was of her deer hunting or at a pistol rang?

Probably would say the same thing as someone posting a fb pic of themselves doing the same as your question. Or, instead of merely standing around with a gun with a Zoolander pose... you could try it dressed like a Palestinian suicide bomber and then see what reaction you get.

[Shad and Dani 3]

Total Liberal BS!!!!!!! The same thing happened to a teacher in Charlotte. She posted that she worked in the "most ghetto school in Charlotte", and was telling the truth. Laws need to be put in place to give workers personal freedom!!

[HAL 9000 96]

Yeah! Total Liberal BS! Yeah!

[DeadPoolX 9]

Yeah! Total Liberal BS! Yeah!

Liberal or conservative, it doesn't really matter. I still say someone's personal life shouldn't come into play in their professional life. Unless the individual in question is doing something illegal or enforcing their ideas on others, it's a personal issue.

[HAL 9000 96]

Yeah! Total Liberal BS! Yeah!

Liberal or conservative, it doesn't really matter. I still say someone's personal life shouldn't come into play in their professional life. Unless the individual in question is doing something illegal or enforcing their ideas on others, it's a personal issue.

Agreed. Then again, facebook pics are only private when the account holder makes them so.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Yeah! Total Liberal BS! Yeah!

Liberal or conservative, it doesn't really matter. I still say someone's personal life shouldn't come into play in their professional life. Unless the individual in question is doing something illegal or enforcing their ideas on others, it's a personal issue.

Agreed. Then again, facebook pics are only private when the account holder makes them so.

There's obvious reasons for someone in a position of authority to not make publicly available material that challenges that authority or which undermines respect in their position.

At my school I never knew what my teacher's got up to off campus, I think I would have been pretty shocked if I discovered on the internet that they had this whole other life - involving wild drinking and promiscuity.

Its not hard to imagine what could happen if a schoolkid were to find say... pictures of his Spanish teacher doing bellyshots off a Tijuana hooker and decided to circulate them among his classmates.

Its not difficult to understand why a teacher should be savvy enough to avoid such a situation. After all, Michael Phelps just got hauled over the coals for a picture showing him smoking a bong. It's not much different.

I have no idea what the thinking was behind this particular instance - the gun image is probably somewhat inappropriate in the messages it conveys, but who knows....

[Danno 1,228]

Yeah! Total Liberal BS! Yeah!

Liberal or conservative, it doesn't really matter. I still say someone's personal life shouldn't come into play in their professional life. Unless the individual in question is doing something illegal or enforcing their ideas on others, it's a personal issue.

Agreed. Then again, facebook pics are only private when the account holder makes them so.

There's obvious reasons for someone in a position of authority to not make publicly available material that challenges that authority or which undermines respect in their position.

At my school I never knew what my teacher's got up to off campus, I think I would have been pretty shocked if I discovered on the internet that they had this whole other life - involving wild drinking and promiscuity.

Its not hard to imagine what could happen if a schoolkid were to find say... pictures of his Spanish teacher doing bellyshots off a Tijuana hooker and decided to circulate them among his classmates.

Its not difficult to understand why a teacher should be savvy enough to avoid such a situation. After all, Michael Phelps just got hauled over the coals for a picture showing him smoking a bong. It's not much different.

I have no idea what the thinking was behind this particular instance - the gun image is probably somewhat inappropriate in the messages it conveys, but who knows....

I absolutely agree that, teachers need to maintain their them self publicly in such a way to keep the trust of the school. But we are not talking about a lady pole dancing in her off hours we are talking a bout a lady being photo graphed doing what everyone from the Presidents on down do publicly, handle fire arms.

If people are suggesting that the mere display of a firearm with a scope in a public photo is now going to be considered "out of bounds" ...

We really are getting wacky in this "new standard" of what's good and bad, in this country.

Think about it, if this lady was competing in the Olympics on the Shooting team, she would have to keep it a secret from her students.

[britty 1]

Yeah! Total Liberal BS! Yeah!

Liberal or conservative, it doesn't really matter. I still say someone's personal life shouldn't come into play in their professional life. Unless the individual in question is doing something illegal or enforcing their ideas on others, it's a personal issue.

Agreed. Then again, facebook pics are only private when the account holder makes them so.

There's obvious reasons for someone in a position of authority to not make publicly available material that challenges that authority or which undermines respect in their position.

At my school I never knew what my teacher's got up to off campus, I think I would have been pretty shocked if I discovered on the internet that they had this whole other life - involving wild drinking and promiscuity.

Its not hard to imagine what could happen if a schoolkid were to find say... pictures of his Spanish teacher doing bellyshots off a Tijuana hooker and decided to circulate them among his classmates.

Its not difficult to understand why a teacher should be savvy enough to avoid such a situation. After all, Michael Phelps just got hauled over the coals for a picture showing him smoking a bong. It's not much different.

I have no idea what the thinking was behind this particular instance - the gun image is probably somewhat inappropriate in the messages it conveys, but who knows....

I absolutely agree that, teachers need to maintain their them self publicly in such a way to keep the trust of the school. But we are not talking about a lady pole dancing in her off hours we are talking a bout a lady being photo graphed doing what everyone from the Presidents on down do publicly, handle fire arms.

If people are suggesting that the mere display of a firearm with a scope in a public photo is now going to be considered "out of bounds" ...

We really are getting wacky in this "new standard" of what's good and bad, in this country.

Think about it, if this lady was competing in the Olympics on the Shooting team, she would have to keep it a secret from her students.

well said Danno.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

As I said I have no idea what the reasoning behind this case was, if the teacher did nothing wrong surely she'll be back at work. I suspect though that this article doesn't convey the full story.

But obviously there's a need for teachers to be aware of what information they put in the public domain.