I currently have the flu, which has kept me horizontal on the couch for the last few days mostly sleeping but also watching more TV in the last four days than I have in probably watched in the last year combined. While channel surfing yesterday I came across a news story that made me think. Well, made me think as much as my cough-syrup induced haze could.
The news story (and interview) was concerning Barrow County Georgia high school teacher Ashley Payne, who was forced to resign from her job in August when a parent complained about pictures that she had posted on her Facebook page of her holding alcoholic drinks on recent trip to Europe. This included wine in a restaurant in Italy and beer at the Guinness brewery in Ireland. The weirdest thing is none of the photos actually show her drinking the alcohol and she does not even look intoxicated in the photographs. However, the Barrow Journal reports that Payne’s principal, “objected to photos which showed Payne holding alcoholic beverages while on vacation and a status update which used a pejorative term for females.”
The whole story gets even more bizzarre when the issue of policy comes up. Again according to the Barrow Journal the school district does not currently have a social media/networking policy for its employees, but its board is set to vote on a policy on December 1st.
Part of the policy reads: “Employees who post information on Facebook, MySpace or similar web sites that include inappropriate personal information such as, but not limited to: provocative photographs, sexually explicit messages, use of alcohol, drugs or anything students are prohibited from doing must understand that if students, parents or other employees obtain access to such information, their case will be investigated by school and district officials and if warranted will be disciplined up to and including termination, depending upon the severity of the offense.”
Okay, my emphasis has been added because this is the part of this policy that I cannot understand. I get the drugs part because they are illegal, but I do not understand the alcohol or anything else part. This policy is so vague and broad. Does this mean that a teacher cannot post photographs of them LEGALLY drinking (or holding) alcohol at all because a student might manage to see it? Payne’s lawyer argues that this policy would even prevent an employee of Barrow County from having a glass of wine at a restaurant because a student might see them.
What about the “anything else” part. There are a lot of things that underage school children are not allowed to do but a teacher (because they are an adult) is, such as, the legal consumption of alcohol, driving a motor vehicle, viewing and owning pornography, etc. No matter how other people feel about these activities they are legal for an adult to do in their own free time. It seems like this policy could be manipulated in a number of ways.
So what I keep thinking in regards to this whole situation is: is it possible that employers can use social media/networking policies to control what their employees do when they are not at work? Can it really be legal for employees to be disciplined or fired or forced to resign because of what they post on their social networking sites, even if what the post is totally legal? I hope not.