
Educator suspended when she refused to show her Facebook page - chrismealy
http://www.dailydot.com/news/teacher-aide-suspended-facebook-refused-access/
======
trun
Whenever I see a story like this I always think of this XKCD strip:
<http://xkcd.com/137/>

I don't aim to offend people with things I post online, but I don't expect to
make everyone happy either. If a future employer might not hire me because I
express myself publicly, chances are I don't want to work there anyways.
However, I find it sad to see this kind of thing in education. I know too many
great teachers in public schools that have decided to leave due to crap like
this, and I can't help feeling that things only get worse in their absence.

(edited for grammar)

~~~
potatolicious
That's nice.

In the mean time, tomorrow is the 1st of the month, remember to pay rent,
utility bills, and credit card bills.

The "someone who is a dick is probably not someone I'd want to work with
anyways" thought is correct, but it is a thought that practically no one out
there in the real world actually enjoys. One has to realize that the current
state of the software industry _affords_ us the luxury of _choosing_ our jobs
out of many opportunities, instead of simply taking whatever we can get. We
are extraordinary outliers in this respect, and it remains to be seen how long
we can make this last.

The majority of people in this country (and abroad!) do not have such luxuries
- I'm all for regulation here, because it seems like this is not something
that will regulate itself.

[edit] Side thought: what's wrong with people? You see something you don't
like on Facebook, you _talk to that person like a reasonable human being_.
This passive aggressiveness pisses me right the hell off. We've become a
society of cowards and snitches, so afraid of confrontation that we will hide
behind a 3rd party whenever _anything_ that displeases us happens.

~~~
fleitz
I know many people who don't work in tech who also don't put up with this
crap. It's not about whether you work in tech, it's about whether you work for
yourself, or someone who isn't an asshole and more importantly whether you
respect yourself. I know people who weld metal , cut trees, plant trees,
landscape, etc, who would never put up with this kind of stuff.

Assuming the worst because she wouldn't give access is exactly the kind of
reasoning that courts resolutely set their face against.

Necessity is the argument of tyrants and the creed of slaves. I for see this
decision being overturned quite quickly.

------
jh3
Yeah, show your supervisor your Facebook. Bring in all your journals too.
Maybe that incriminating picture that's in your drawer that your ex-lover took
of you one night as well. Why not? What's the difference? Give them the key to
your house so they can raid your bedroom just in case they need to look
around. Ugh.

~~~
epochwolf
Sounds like an episode of House.

------
joeguilmette
I really hope she sues and we get a legal decision on this one way or another.

That said, it doesn't really matter to me.

1) I don't want to work anywhere that requires me to friend my boss or give up
my password.

2) I don't want to work anywhere that doesn't like me for who I actually am,
and I'm sure as shit not going to hide who I actually am so I can be a slave
for someone.

~~~
fluorescentLAMP
I agree. And luckily, we have the luxury of setting requirements for our
prospective employers.

Some people do not have this luxury. And that is why you should care.

------
narrator
I don't say anything on facebook I wouldn't attach to my resume. Facebook will
go into serious decline when the rest of the world figures out that it's not
really that private. I really long for the days of private friends only
mailing lists.

~~~
carey
Except even they're not necessarily really private, as JWZ's story about
Really Bad Attitude demonstrates: <http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/rbarip.html>

------
sek
I don't get that whole Facebook thing, there is stuff that is work related and
stuff that is not. Why is this even an issue? If they assume anything, they
should let the police investigate it.

Why don't do they ask for the phone number from her ex-boyfriend or her Xbox
live access? This is equally absurd, the employer has no right whatsoever to
intrude the personal life of one of his employees.

------
tdfx
Isn't this exactly what Facebook said they would take legal action to prevent?
Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

------
japhyr
I am a high school teacher, and we have had to deal with cyber bullying on
numerous occasions. It's not that difficult to deal with. If someone is
bullied and wants something done, they can always show their page. This stuff
can be addressed effectively without ever demanding anyone's password.

~~~
read_wharf
Ah, so all that was needed was for the school board to sit at the shoulder of
the complaining parent, as the complaining parent voluntarily showed the
school board the parent's Facebook, and the offending post that the parent saw
via the parent's Facebook.

I don't believe the school board should have been involved in that either, but
that would have been somewhat "better" than firing the teacher.

Better still, the school board should have said "It's Facebook, nothing to do
with us."

~~~
japhyr
Yes, sometimes we do need to address behavior from outside of school that
bleeds over into school activities. For example, a few years ago students
started fighting each other, filming the fights, and posting the videos to
youtube. When it became something that unwilling students were being bullied
into, and 50-100 students were leaving school to cheer on, the school
appropriately got involved. "Off school grounds" does not always mean it's not
school business.

I certainly don't mean that schools should look for stuff to investigate. I
also don't see enough particulars from this article to make a clear judgement
about this case. But when it is appropriate for the school to get involved,
these situations can be handled without anyone handing over their password.

------
thebigredjay
_Soon after, the district’s Special Education Director wrote to Hester, saying
“[I]n the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration
access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act
accordingly."_

To be fair she did post something that would get her fired if posted in a
truly public setting. If the parent of a student was able to see this picture
then it's hard to consider her Facebook profile private. If they had a screen
shot of this photo on Facebook I doubt they would require her password to
suspend her.

That being said I still think it is horrid that anyone would even think of
asking for a Facebook password, and the "guilty until proven innocent" thing
doesn't fly with me.

~~~
icebraining
_To be fair she did post something that would get her fired if posted in a
truly public setting_

But it was _not_ a public setting, so how is that relevant?

~~~
thebigredjay
Do you really consider Facebook a private setting?

~~~
icebraining
For the purpose, yes. They did need her password, didn't they?

~~~
thebigredjay
I'm assuming she just deleted the photo and they were fishing for some kind of
proof.

------
dasil003
> _the district’s Special Education Director wrote to Hester, saying “[I]n the
> absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to
> you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly."_

I guess this clown has never heard of innocent until proven guilty. Yes, yes,
I realize this is not a court of law, but let's see how he feels about that
when the ACLU hauls him into one.

------
lifeisstillgood
The attitude "never say anything you would not want tosee published" is wrong.

When you say something (online) you are publishing it

all those pub conversations, all those vitriolic diatribes against managers
(whom we later bacame) are packed up and put into a book called read me later

we have all been writing appendicies to the Viz Swearosaurus

------
meepmorp
When I read stories like this, I feel less like a contrarian Luddite on my
refusal to Facebook. Sure, the school district is being shitty here, but if
you don't post stuff on the Internet to begin with, this kind of thing is less
apt to occur in the first place.

~~~
njharman
Self-censorship is fail. Being compelled to self-censor is double fail.
Neither has a place in a free society.

~~~
r00fus
Why is not using Facebook on grounds that it's effectively "public" considered
self-censorship?

~~~
rbarooah
If it was "effectively public", there wouldn't be any issue with people being
compelled to show their pages to their employers.

------
tbsdy
Simple "solution" - delete her Facebook profile and tell them that's what
she's done.

Surely there is a law that's already on the books that prevents coersion of
person details? Under the U.S. Constitution, the government must get a search
warrant. I don't see how this is any different - this is the government using
coersion to gain access to your private life. I think that a good lawyer could
take this to the Federal Court to challenge the constitutionality of the
matter.

~~~
sliverstorm
Good idea, destruction of evidence is surely the right answer here.
Particularly when that evidence is recoverable.

~~~
tbsdy
Funny, I don't believe that she is being prosecuted of a crime. The ones
asking her for the password is the _Education Board_ , who have no legal
recourse but to demand the password.

If this was a prosecutor, they would file a subpoena to Facebook via the court
system.

