Should teachers be allowed to communicate with students through personal social media accounts?

Citing the potential for misuse and abuse, New York City school officials say teachers can no longer contact students through personal social media accounts on services such as Twitter and Facebook.

Today's Question: Should teachers be allowed to communicate with students through their personal social media accounts?

Excerpt from the New York Times story:

The guidelines do not ban teachers from using social media and, in fact, recognize that it can offer tremendous educational benefits. Nor do they address cellphones and text messaging between teachers and students, which, according to a review by The New York Times of dozens of Education Department investigations in the past five years, have been more widespread and problematic.

But the guidelines do reflect growing concerns nationwide about the instantaneous ease with which teachers can interact electronically with students, and the potential for misuse or abuse. New York City's guidelines, which were reported on Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal, represent the latest official response to a number of episodes involving teachers accused of behaving inappropriately with students.

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