Guilford County Schools have established social media guidelines. The guidelines advise their staff to keep their personal lives personal. They have specific guidelines for Facebook since it has become such a well known/ used social media site. also prohibit teachers from becoming facebook friends with their students or their students parents.
I think that Guilford County is very clear on their policies but not necessarily the consequences. Employees of the school district are reminded that their personal online presence should reflect the same respect and professionalism exhibited in their professional online accounts. Even though this may not seem fair to some, I believe it is very appropriate. In this case the person in question was a role model for many young people. This is not how we want our young men to behave or take pictures. This is on the border of "sexting" which is a huge issue for teens and younger. I believe the teacher made the right choice of resigning, because he would have lost the respect of his peers, students and parents.
Entering the field of education, I think that their should be more emphasis on this. As an adult returning to school, I see the pit falls of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I am not so sure young teachers that have grown up posting all of their life events and having everything out there, the good, bad and ugly understand the workplace repercussions. I know in my place of employment we will search potential candidates social media sites to get an idea of their lifestyle and dependability.
Teachers are up against even more challenges with folks looking at their social media sites, potential employers (school districts) as well as students current and future, and parents of those students will all be "screening" the teacher by seeing what information they can find on social media sites. This is why I believe school districts do need strict guidelines and consequences for misuse of social media even in their personal life.
http://www.gcsnc.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=288157
http://schoolcenter.gcsnc.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=291859&pagecat=3704
WFMY News2 (2012, November 30) Page HS teacher resigns for inappropriate photos. Retrieved January 21, 2013 from http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=256722
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