Polytechnic High Principal Gerardo Loera is a big fan of social media, posting everything from football scores to schoolwide test results on Facebook and Twitter for students, parents and the world to see.
He even includes a live feed of his tweets, usually typed from his cellphone, on the school’s website.
“It’s just such a useful and immediate way to disseminate information to my school community in a very quick way,” Loera said.
“In a few minutes one of my messages can reach thousands of people and if something I post gets retweeted … well then Poly can be read about all over the country.”
But not all uses of social media by teachers and administrators are seen in such a positive light. School districts throughout the country are studying how to best use the technology while steering clear of its drawbacks.
Nationwide, teachers have been fired for online behavior, from serious breaches like making passes at students on MySpace to the seemingly innocent, like posting a picture of themselves on Facebook having a drink at an after-hours party.
To help teachers avoid problems, last month Los Angeles Unified began debating a new social media policy.
Until last year, LAUSD had a strict ban on using social media sites during work hours or on district computers, which were kept out of the district’s Internet server by the same filtering software and rules used to keep pornography and violent Web content away from students.
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