GEM 2 Cyber Law by Aimee M. Bissonette Chapter 3 Staff Use of the Internet

This chapter talked about the misuse of the Internet by teachers and staff.  It gave examples of a superintendent, a teacher and a substitute teacher that misused the Internet.  It discussed the issue of the right of free speech for teachers and staff.  This right is based on certain things such as if the speech occurred in class or off duty, if the it was expressed on the school's Internet service, if it was on a protected topic, or of it disrupted the workplace.  The school can restrict the speech of teachers when on campus and have been watching off-campus use closely as well.  There is still question on how much control schools can have over teachers and staff on the off-campus use of free speech on the Internet.  The courts are split over just how much control the schools have.

The next part of the chapter talks about the schools role in avoiding the misuse of the Internet by teachers and staff.  Schools can help to avoid this problem by communicating with their administrators, teachers, and staff the expectations of on-campus use of the Internet as well as the expectations for off-campus use.  The chapter suggests having clearly written policies for the administrators, teachers, and staff to follow and to make sure that they understand it as well.  It is also important for the schools to enforce these polices.

The chapter concludes by restating that the teacher and staffs use of the Internet and on-campus speech can be restricted by law.  The school can define their Internet system as a limited forum system which will restrict its use to educational purposes.  The law is much more unclear on the use of the Internet use and free speech of administrators, teachers, and staff when they are off-campus.  The school system has to put more thought into how to monitor the off-campus use of the Internet and free speech of its employees.