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Home > Blogs > Middletown School News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > April > 20 > Entry
School bans texting in a close vote
In a close vote, the Madison Board of Education has banned text messaging between students and staff.
The vote makes Madison the first district in the area - maybe the state - to ban the popular form of communication.
My colleague Danielle Wilson covered the meeting while I went to Middletown’s meeting. She reports two members voted against the policy, saying texting provides a written account of communication and would be useful in case of allegations of inappropriate talks.
Three other board members voted to forbid texting between students and teachers/coaches. Board member Pete Robinson said it would bother him for school personnel to call or text his children’s cell phones instead of calling the house.
You can read the full policy after the jump.
The policy the Madison Local Schools Board of Education passed Monday, April 20, against text messaging is as follows:
It is the duty of all teachers, coaches, extra-curricular moderators, and staff members (“Personnel”) to maintain only appropriate communications with students at all times.
Madison Local Schools recognizes that with advances in communication technology, there are more opportunities for out-of-school and non-school related communications between personnel and students.
The increased opportunity for such communication also increases the risk that personnel will make inappropriate contact with students.
Further, Madison Local Schools recognizes that there are many convenient and efficient means of communication available to personnel who need to contact students.
For example, personnel can contact students via telephone, school e-mail accounts, and the School-wide Pre K 12 Notification System (which permits school personnel to send a single telephone message to multiple students at once).
These means of communication are more than sufficient for appropriate communications between personnel and students.
Because other adequate means of communication are available, the risk of inappropriate communications between personnel and students posed by text messaging outweighs its utility.
Therefore, to avoid inappropriate communications between personnel and students, text messaging between personnel and students is strictly prohibited.
Under no circumstances may personnel send text messages to students.
Except in cases of emergency, personnel receiving unsolicited text messages from students shall not respond to the students and shall inform a supervisor of such incidents.
Violation of this policy may constitute just cause for disciplinary action up to and including termination.
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