A Missouri teacher sued the state over a new law that preventing teachers from contacting their students over the Internet and argued that it will make it illegal for her to chat with her own child over social sites like Facebook.
Dubbed as the Facebook law, the rule prohibits teachers from having exclusive communications with students over non-work Internet sites. Students are defined as anyone under 18 who attend or used to attend the school where the teacher works. Christina Thomas alleges that the Ladue, Mo., school district where she works has told teachers that they cannot have exclusive communications with their own children on Facebook if their children meet the law's definition of former or current student and says the law is violating her rights under the 1st and 14th amendments.
Not everyone agrees the law goes too far like Charol Shakeshaft, a professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University, who believes that the bill is a good way to tackle sexual abuse in schools after finding out that about 10 percent of public school students in 2000 reported that they experienced unwanted sexual harassment or abuse from an educator.
SOURCE:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/missouri-teacher-sues-state-over-facebook-law-says-162158139.html
