cyber ethics: from policy to practice...cyber ethics: from policy to practice october 2, 2012 north...

Cyber Ethics:

From Policy to Practice

October 2, 2012

North Dakota Association of Technology Leaders

Fall Into Technology Conference

(via Skype)

Presented By:

Gretchen M. Shipley

Phone: (760) 304-6000

[email protected]

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What would you do?

• After school students go to a restaurant.

• One student films others making derogatory statements about a 13-year-old, calling her a “slut” and “ugly.”

• Student who filmed posts it to YouTube from a home computer.

• Next day, victim & parent bring video to the school’s attention.

• What would you do in response to the video?

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Objective

• Review what steps a school

district can take to promote

CYBER-CITIZENSHIP

in the school

community.

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Evolution and Integration

of Technology

in the School Community

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What we’ve learned:

One voice can impact your community.

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Impact

• Because one voice can wield so much

power, it is critical that your community

(students, teachers, staff, administrators,

school board, parents, community

members) understand the importance of:

CYBER-ETHICS

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Balance

• At the same time, school districts must

understand the limitations of their ability to

police students, teachers, and others in

cyber-space.

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Challenge

• Law has not caught up with

technology.

• School districts must operate

according to statutes and case law

that do not contemplate modern

technology.

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Traditional Framework

• The traditional framework for school district jurisdiction for student discipline is based on geography. Example: New bullying law.

• Based on this traditional framework, we will apply modern day (and modern technology) misconduct scenarios and provide guidance on school district ability and responsibility to discipline such conduct.

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Cyber-Ethics Webinar Overview

• We will look at the promotion of student

and employee cyber-ethics in their usage

of:

– School-Issued Technology

– Personal Technology Off Campus

– Personal Technology as Instructional Tool

– Personal Technology On Campus

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School-Issued Technology

• What is “school-issued technology”?

Examples:

– Laptops

– E-mail Accounts

– I-Pads

– On-Line Access

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• Unethical use of school-issued technology includes any conduct that violates a school policy, which may include:– Access to impermissible websites

– Hacking

– Stolen passwords

– Bullying

– Sexual harassment

– Threats

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• What is a school districts authority to

search school-issued technology:

– For students?

– For staff?

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• What if a teacher is on

their prep. period,

lunch break, or returns

to the classroom in the

evening to use a

school-issued laptop?

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Promoting Cyber-Citizenship on


• Thorough policies on acceptable use of school issued technology– Separate policies for students and teachers

– Expressly state no privacy interest

– Must they be signed?

• Educate students and staff on District acceptable use standards and serious consequences for violation.– No privacy interest / forensic IT investigation

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• Recap on School-Issued Technology:

– A school district’s right to control student

and employee conduct is broad.


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Cyber-Ethics in Cyber-Space

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Cyber-Ethics in Cyber-Space

• Under the traditional discipline framework,

it is more difficult for a school district to

promote ethical conduct in cyber-space

that occurs off-campus.

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Student Right to Free Speech

• Tinker v. Des Moines

– School district may restrict speech if it is

reasonably foreseeable that there will be a

substantial disruption to the orderly operation of

the school.

• J.S. v. Blue Mountain SD & Layshock v. Hermitage SD

• T.V. v. Smith-Green Commty. School Corp.

• J.C. v. Beverly Hills USD

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What Constitutes a Substantial

Disruption?

Courts found student discipline to be justified when:

• A school district could reasonably foresee that

violent or threatening speech would cause a

substantial disruption

• Administrators missed school activities in order

to respond to a deluge of phone calls and parent

complaints (but substantial disruption had to me

more than administrators being pulled away from

ordinary tasks)

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What Constitutes a Substantial

Disruption? (cont.)

•Substantial disruption requires more than:

– Mere gossip;

– Groups of students talking about an incident

two or three times in class;

– “Divisiveness” among teammates; or

– A few students missing portions of one or two

classes to participate in school investigation

of online speech.

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• Site administrators inundated with claims of

bullying.

• Evaluate allegations to confirm allegations meets

definition stated in new law. Even if not, can still

elect to provide alternative means of correction.

• Response may be different if on campus or

received on campus versus cyberbullying in

cyber-space.

Response to Claims of

Bullying/Cyberbullying:

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• Bullying committed on campus or received on campus falls under new law effective July 1, 2012.

– New law and recommended policy include reporting, documentation, investigation and training obligations.

– Substantial compliance with the law is required. Note: The higher the obligation placed upon the district, the more risk district will fail to comply and expose itself to liability.

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• Off-campus Cyberbullying may require district to

weigh student first amendment rights against

student safety: Safety First

• Even if school district jurisdiction is unwarranted

because no substantial disruption for

cyberspeech, alternative means of correction

may be still be appropriate

• Training and prevention is key: cyber citizenship

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• Indirect, Usually Off-Campus

• Affects Broader Audience

• No Physical Presence

• Harder to Pinpoint Victims

• Harder to Prevent

• ANONYMOUS

Cyberbullying Different than

Traditional Bullying

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Training Considerations

• Designate a point person

to train staff regarding

digital citizenship,

tolerance, and bullying

• Designate a point person

to conduct bullying

investigations

• Bullying prevention training

may include discussion

regarding sexual

orientation, gender identity, and transgender issues and raise awareness throughout the school community

• Educate community on how to identify, respond to, and prevent bullying; educate parents on the limitations placed on school district, to prevent bullying off campus, and the need for parent and community involvement

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• Embed a campaign to promote citizenship throughout the school community in back-to-school and school safety materials.

• Evaluate and update all applicable school policies to include responsible use of new technology.

Bullying Prevention Tips

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• Parent education

and involvement

• Improved supervision

• Consistent consequences

and social/emotional interventions

• Train all school staff on how to identify,

prevent and respond

Bullying Prevention Tips cont.

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• Establish District-wide or school-wide

expectations

• Implement consistent and escalating

consequences

• Create individualized intervention plans

• Respond immediately to reports of bullying• (Building a Caring School, Celeste Campbell, Ed.D)

Bullying Prevention Tips cont.

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Employee Cyber-Ethics:

What would you do?

• Receive anonymous call from a parent

directing you to a Craigslist ad.

• Ad is a photo of a middle school teacher,

nude images of his body and graphic,

vulgar text soliciting sex.

• His name and employment information

are not included in the ad.

• Site is restricted to people under 18.

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CPC v. SDUSD (Lampedusa)

• Teacher as role model

• Cyber conduct caused principal to lose

confidence in teacher’s “fitness to teach”

• Slippery slope: Could a Match.com ad

cause a principal to lose confidence in a

teacher?

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Employee Conduct / Misconduct?

• Blogging about

working conditions?

• Organizing a strike?

• Complaining about

students, parents,

board members???

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Personal Technology Off Campus

• Bottom line for student / employee conduct on

their own technology on their own time:

– School district has little jurisdiction to discipline

students unless it can be shown that the conduct is

reasonably foreseeable to cause a substantial

disruption to school operations.

– For employees, conduct may also be grounds for

discipline if the conduct still falls within the statutory

grounds, for discipline despite being off-campus, just

be cautious of collective bargaining implications.

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Personal Technology as an

Instructional Tool

From the Classroom Wall

to the Facebook Wall:

Inviting the Outside In

Small group assignments on Facebook

Posting student made videos on YouTube

Campus or District Facebook Page

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Law Has Not Caught Up

with Technology• Inviting the Cyber-World into the classroom is rife

with legal problems.

• Legal perspective: Not trying to stand in the way of education innovation, but trying to assist school districts in implementing innovative technology responsibly.

• Attorneys role is to anticipate potential legal pitfalls and provide tools (i.e. policy and instruction) on how to prevent those pitfalls.

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Personal Technology as

Instructional Tool - Hypo #1

• Under CIPA, a school district must monitor

and filter school district internet use.

– How would the District monitor Facebook if it

is required as an instructional tool?

– What if the District saw misconduct

while monitoring?

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• Students create a classroom

project on video and

post it on YouTube.

– Do School District

photograph / video

waivers include this

scenario?

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• The campus Facebook page becomes a forum for student, teacher or parent complaints about the District.

– How much authority does the school district have to remove posts?

– What if an administrator is tagged in a vacation photo in a bathing suit by a family member, can all Facebook “friends” on campus page view it?

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Instructional Tool

• To the extent a school district is

going to utilize outside technology

as an instructional tool, school

policies should be put in place to

promote cyber-citizenship in social

networking, blogging, YouTube, etc.

• It has not yet been tested in the law how

enforceable such policies are.

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Teachers and Students as

“Friends”

• By the creation of a virtual “social network” through technology that is no longer tied to the school site, there has been an explosion of inappropriate teacher-student conduct and relationships.

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“Friends” - Hypo #1

• Teacher has a weekend job at Hooters wearing

skimpy clothes.

• Hooters photos posted to her Facebook wall.

• Teacher is friends with 6th grade students.

– Is this immoral or unprofessional conduct?

– Can a school site prohibit a teacher and student

from being “friends” on social networking sites?

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“Friends” - Hypo #2

• Teacher and Student are Facebook

friends.

• A photo is posted to Student’s wall of

the Student smoking marijuana.

– Does this trigger the teacher’s duty to

report abuse and neglect to the police

or CPS as a mandatory reporter?

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Promoting Cyber-Ethics in

Social Networking• Encourage teachers not to friend students.

• If social networking is interwoven into the educational process, encourage teachers to exercise good judgment in “socializing” with students. – For example, teachers may want to create a a

separate professional and personal Facebook page.

• Train teachers on the danger of students viewing inappropriate content on their wall and the impact mandatory reporting when they view misconduct on student walls.

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“Friends”

• An Inappropriate / sexual relationship

between a teacher and student is grounds for

dismissal as immoral conduct (even if the

student is 18).

• Knowledge of or reasonable suspicion of a

teacher and a student having an

inappropriate / sexual relationship will likely

trigger a teacher’s mandatory reporting duty.

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Personal Technology On

Campus

• It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a. . .

Personal Electronic Device!

• Almost every person now carries a phone, a camera, a video camera, a twitter account, and Facebook access . . . in their pocket!

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Campus

• While on campus, a school district can promote cyber-ethics on personal electronic devices through a “cell phone” policy.

• Districts vary on acceptable times of use and rules regarding confiscation.

• Cell phone policy should be updated to include all functions of a personal technology device and may be blended with photograph and video policy.

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Campus

• Cell phone policies should be cautious

about student search and seizure

procedures.

• Klump v. Nazarath: Parents sued school

for violation of privacy rights.

• Reasonable suspicion = “justified at

inception” and “reasonable in scope.”

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Campus

• Does your District issue

cell phones to staff?

• Do teachers have a privacy

interest in a school district

issued phone?

• City of Ontario v. Quon

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Campus

• Emergency exceptions

in cell phone policies

(pros and cons)

• Emergency

Communications Plan

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Campus

• Last but not least . . . Sexting!?

– Seattle cheerleader case: Parents

sued school district for inconsistent

discipline.

– Slumber party tweens:

Prosecuted for child

pornography.

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Campus

• Sexual images of a minor trigger

mandatory reporting.

• Criminal prosecution may include child

pornography. Consequences include

registered sex offender status.

• Anticipate creation of a “Romeo and Juliet

exception” by state legislatures.

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Campus

• If you discover a “sexting” photo on

campus:

– What not to do: pass it on

to an administrator.

– What to do: seal up the image,

tell an administrator, and follow

mandatory reporting protocol.

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• A 13 year-old student “sexts” a topless

photo to a boyfriend.

• She is being harassed and ridiculed by

other students because of the texted

image.

• A teacher reports seeing shallow cuts on

the student’s thigh.

Personal Technology / Sexting

What Would You Do?

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Witsell Case Example

• In Witsell, a school social worker provided

mental health counseling and had the

student sign a no-harm contract.

• The social worker did not notify site

administrators or student’s parents of the

counseling or cuts.

• The following day, the 13 year-old hung

herself and died.

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Conclusion: Promoting Cyber-Ethics

• To promote cyber-ethics:

– Have clear policies in place.

– Update policies as technology evolves.

– Train students and staff on acceptable use

and cyber-citizenship.

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Information in this presentation, including but not limited to PowerPoint handouts and the presenters' comments, is summary only and not legal advice. We advise you to consult with legal counsel to determine how this information may apply to your specific facts and circumstances.

Thank you!!

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