EDLD 5344 School Law Week 5 Reflections

Student Management and Technology
· Which of the student-management issues as they relate to the topic of Cyber Law discussed in this course and in your Cyber Law text is most relevant to you as a school technology leader?
· How have your views changed about the proper policies and procedures to employ regarding student management?
· How will the knowledge gained on this topic help you become an effective school technology leader?How will it help your staff and your students?
I would say that currently a good comprehensive AUP is my main priority. The AUP we have is definitely dated and doesn’t cover the newer internet aspects such as social networking, open source materials and cyber bullying. I’ve gathered numerous materials to create our new AUP and internet safety plans. the Cyber Law text did a good job of providing additional resources.
My views have changed regarding free speech and student expression after reading Chapter 2: Student Use of the Internet. “…legal claims… These claims arise when students post… harmful information … in personal blogs, on social networking sites…” (Bissonette, 2009) As an educator, I need to know when students inappropriate use of the internet must be tolerated as protected under the First Amendment.
The knowledge I’ve gained will help me assist in creating and enforcing policies that are just and appropriate. I’ve already used some knowledge to educate teacher that internet content is not free and that just because your own son is facebook friends with someone who hasn’t given you the needed photos for the school slideshow, you can’t just hack into your son’s facebook and copy/paste them into your powerpoint. The photos are intellectual property and not public domain.

Personnel Management
· What have you learned about teacher evaluation and remediation that you did not know before taking this class?
· How will the information presented in this course help you become a better leader with school employees?
· What aspect of school personnel management do you feel you need to learn more about?
· How do you plan to gain this knowledge?
I wasn’t aware of just how useless most principals think teacher evaluations are. I’ve heard from prior principals how much they detest doing 45-50 evaluations of teachers. It has been my experience, as a teacher, that the later a teacher waits to schedule the evaluation, the shorter amount of time the principal actually stays in the classroom. I’ve even had to reschedule evaluations when principals forget about their appointment with me. “Two drop-in visits with a pre-made checklist are no longer considered acceptable practice.” (Kersten, & Israel, 2005)
This statement is ironic to me since our principals only do one in-class “sit-down” evaluation per year. They may also only actually walk in for 3 to 5 minutes once or twice a year. I guess I’ve never thought about whether or not they do more walk-throughs for non-veteran teachers or not; probably not. That is one question I plan to ask my principal.
I find it especially interesting that the new walk-through software we’re using is recommended for use on an iPad. Sometimes I just wonder if the people who design new innovative programs purposely design it to run on the newest “gadget” just so superintendents and principals will push to buy that software so they can have the school buy the newest, greatest electronic device for them to use as personal property. The information in this course will help me better manage personnel by providing me with exposure to the knowledge of where to search and who to ask when questions about free speech, search and seizure, cyberbullying, teacher evaluations, or deliberate indifference arises.

Improving Professional Practice
· Select another legal topic covered in the Cyber Law textbook that you feel affects you as a school technology leader.
· What have you learned about this topic, and how will this new knowledge affect your decision-making as a technology leader?
· What professional development opportunities can you spearhead in your school to inform teachers about this issue?
Chapter Three of the Cyber Law text was especially interesting to me due to its “outside-of-school” nature. The three scenarios presented were good choices. The second case, involving the teacher who made every effort to keep his private business anonymous, made me really think about how easy it is for a school to become involved in an employee’s personal business based on the nature of teachers’ jobs. We probably wouldn’t see a construction company or a department store even consider releasing an employee for maintaining a personal “Web site he created to display and sell his nude art.” (Bissonette, 2009)
This line drawn between teachers’ public and private lives is bound to become even bolder the more and more prevalent the internet becomes. We’ve already had on incident in our school involving a teacher who has an online sex toy business. The administration became aware of it about six months ago and was cautioned by the school attorney that unless she conducts business on a school computer there is nothing the school can do to curtail it.
This new knowledge has helped me to understand that we need to add some professional development even if it’s just short presentations during staff meetings reminding everyone that they must understand student/teacher online contact; whether through facebook, MySpace, email or cell phone texting could get them in serious trouble. “Teacher associations and legal counsel for school districts are warning to be more careful about what they post online.” (Bissonette, 2009)

Kersten, T.A., & Israel, M.S. (2005). Teacher evaluation: principal's insights and suggestions for improvement. Planning and Changing, 36(182), 47-67.

Bissonette, A.M. (2009). Cyber law: maximizing safety and minimizing risk in classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Pr