Educators, students and technology: Should lines be drawn? If so, where and how?

Correction appended

The case of Justin Michael Prunk, the Reynolds High School teacher who was sanctioned for sending inappropriate text messages to four students at all hours, raises the question of what standards educators are held to when it comes to interacting with students electronically.

Victoria Chamberlain, executive director of the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, said Thursday the commission has convened a workgroup to answer that very question.

"We recognize that as a commission we have to have much brighter lines and decision points about social media" and other electronic communications, said Chamberlain, who is also president of the Professional Educator Standards Board Association.

As a part of its efforts to update standards, the commission sat in on a 21/2-hour presentation in January from Troy Hutchings, research chair for education at the University of Phoenix, whose specialty is teacher sexual conduct and professional responsibility.

Representatives of Oregon teacher certification and licensure programs said their students already discuss electronic boundaries frequently.

"We talk extensively about the appropriate use of technology," said Nell O'Malley, director of licensure and field services for Oregon State University's College of Education.

What aspiring teachers at Oregon State hear, O'Malley said, is that technology can be very helpful with classroom curriculum, but that any kind of messaging with students is inappropriate. "They get that from day one in our program," she said.

Students in Lewis & Clark College's Graduate School of Education and Counseling hear similar cautions, said school spokeswoman Hanna Neuschwander.

"Certainly in terms of professional conduct, they're getting messages all the way through the program and in their field teaching," Neuschwander said. "They also spend a lot of time talking about what is developmentally appropriate, what is professional."

O'Malley, who attended Hutchings' presentation to the TSPC, said he made a strong point about a general lack of consistent guidance at the state and district level for educators. "We need to be developing state policy and district policies to effectively handle these situations," she said.

Neuschwander added that "courts have decided different ways about these issues in different states at different times ... There's no clear answer for a lot of teachers going into the field about what they should or shouldn't do."

But despite the inconsistencies and vagueness, Chamberlain said, "there isn't any excuse to violate an adult-child boundary. I don't care how adult that child may seem."

Teri Miller, president of the advocacy group Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct and Exploitation, whose board of advisers includes Hutchings, said Thursday that educators need more support when it comes to navigating 21st-century technology.

"They're not being taught enough, they're not being trained enough. and they're not being warned enough to not communicate with students outside of the school-approved network," said Miller, a parent of four children.

But the bottom line should be clear, she said: "There's absolutely no reason for teachers to be communicating with their students on private cell phones or through social media."

-- Amy Wang

awang@oregonian.com
503-294-5914
@ORAmyW

This post has been modified to reflect the following correction:

On April 17, 2015, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Justin Michael Prunk's teaching certificate was suspended for a year for inappropriate texts to students. In fact, Prunk's teaching certificate lapsed and his right to reapply for his license was suspended for a year. The Oregonian/OregonLive regrets publication of the error.

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