This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 14, 2011 - The Missouri Senate gave final approval this morning to a bill aimed at correcting language in a newly enacted law -- already in the courts -- that appears to ban most private teacher-student interaction on the internet, including email, Facebook and Twitter.
The 33-0 vote sends the bill to the Missouri House, which is expected to act later this week as part of the special session authorized by Gov. Jay Nixon.
The Senate bill could set up a confrontation with Nixon, if it is passed unchanged by the House. The Senate attempts to revise the errant provision in question. Nixon, Missouri's former attorney general, wants an outright repeal. He has called for a commission to consider how to address teacher-student communications on the internet.
State Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, sponsored the bill revising the language. She also sponsored the original bill, which was aimed at preventing communication with students by educators who are sexual predators.
Teachers have said that the new restrictions, which went into effect Aug. 28, appeared to bar routine social-media communication on students' work assignments and class schedules. Cunningham and her allies say the original intent was to avoid inappropriate interactions.
Cunningham's revision was given final approval without discussion by the Senate this morning. The new wording is supported by associations representing teachers, administrators and school boards as well as social-conservative groups.
The new wording, in effect, requires local school districts to come up with a policy for social-media communication. But the compromise doesn't go into the particulars of what the policy should be, beyond some broad outlines. It also gives districts more time, until March 2012, to put a policy in place.
Two lawsuits have been filed since the original provisions went into effect in late August, with a judge already barring its implementation over free-speech concerns.
Cunningham told the Senate earlier that the new language will "protect teachers' rights" and provide school boards with the flexibilities to enact policies of their own. She also said that education groups -- such as the Missouri chapter of the National Education Association and the Missouri State Teachers Association -- signed off the bill. "This allows the local school district the burden and the responsibility and the authority to develop and implement a policy."