Va. Board of Education urges policy on social networks as teaching tools

Virginia education officials, however, worry that such technologies open the door to potential offenders. The state recorded more than 120 cases of sexual misconduct between teachers and students over the past 10 years, the “vast majority” of which included texting and other forms of digital communication, according to Virginia Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle.

Experts say that such contact makes it easier for predators to engage in what experts call “sexual grooming,” the first stages of an inappropriate teacher-student relationship.

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The original version of the rules proposed by the state board would have made Virginia one of a handful of states to adopt firm restrictions on the use of social networking, but the opposition from teachers and local school officials forced a reconsideration.

“The board revised the policy, recognizing that it’s not practical to be too prescriptive in suggesting a model policy,” said Pyle.

Some experts on education and sexual misconduct saw great promise in the state’s initial guidelines and were disappointed by the weaker version adopted Thursday.

“The first guidelines looked out for children. The most recent guidelines look out for adults,” said Charol Shakeshaft, author of the U.S. Department of Education’s 2004 report on sexual misconduct and a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Virginia would have been a leader. Not anymore.”

Some social-networking giants, meanwhile, have established education arms, explaining how their Web sites and mobile technologies might be useful teaching tools. But a cadre of other Web start-ups, hoping that Facebook, MySpace and Twitter won’t succeed in public schools, have begun marketing products tailored specifically to classrooms.

Schoology, Moodle and online education titan Blackboard now offer social-networking services made exclusively for educators and students. It’s a market that could expand significantly, depending on the policies that state and local governments pass in coming years.

In Louisiana, for example, instructors may only use electronic or digital tools “provided by or otherwise made available by the school system.” Other school districts ban Facebook, which they say raises concerns about security — not to mention productivity — but allow access to Schoology and Blackboard, where interactions between students and teachers are easier to regulate.

“It’s not about the technology, it’s about how it’s used, about acceptable behaviors,” said Kathy L. Smith, chairwoman of the Fairfax County School Board. “Somebody who wants to relate in that way is going to find a way to do it.”