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Re: [Phys-l] Should teachers blog???



John Clement writes:

The E-mails being public is serious. I get E-mails from teachers where the
school system has appended a note saying that they are public records. In
other words if a parent asks for information about their children, you can
not supply it in an E-mail. Written information can be more carefully
worded than verbal info. So the alternative is to send a note home, but you
do not have any assurance that it will arrive.

While teacher's E-mails could be perused by administrators in case of a
conflict, they should not be public records. And if this sort of thing is
to be a public record, then the legislators mails should also be public
records. The point is that they should grant the same privacy rights to
others that they themselves demand.

I am an elected official (Council member and Vice Mayor). Any and all emails and other correspondence pertaining to public business are considered part of the public record, and may be demanded by citizens and media under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). Further, if I were to send a "broadcast" email to the rest of Council pertaining to public business, that would be considered an illegal meeting of Town Council. I can't even talk to my colleagues other than one on one outside of a suitably advertised open meeting of Council.

So, my take is that while teachers may have the freedom to tweet, post, blog, or email about their students, the public also has the right to see the contents of those communications. Discretion may well be the better part of valor here ... talk to colleagues if you have a complaint about your students. Talk to the student. Don't broadcast.

*******************************************************
 "I learned very early the difference between knowing
the name of something and knowing something."    
     - Richard Feynman
*******************************************************

Dr. George Spagna
Physics Department
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505

phone: (804) 752-7344
fax: (804) 752-4724
e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu
http://faculty.rmc.edu/gspagna/public_html/index.html


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