Imagine this as an internet conversation between two people:

“Yo, When is dat Extra Credit due?”

“Wednesday. 🙂 So what’s up with u 2day? Doing anything fun?”

Now, imagine the conversation between a Central student and a teacher. Would this be appropriate? We think not. When emoticons and abbreviations are integrated into communication between students and teachers, there is a problem. The relationship a student has with his or her teacher is expected to be one of professionalism and mutual respect. A teacher is not a student’s best friend.

While certain staff members may need to contact students by other means than their district e-mail, the preceding scenario should not be present at our school. We, the Editorial Board of the Central Times, support the administration’s policy regarding communication between District 203 staff, parents and students.

We believe that teachers and students should be allowed to use various forms of communication such as texting and calling with prior approval, as stated in the communications policy draft. If teachers have nothing to hide, there should be no problem with simply filling out a prior-approval form under this new system.

For example, if a coach needs to keep in contact with his or her players during a meet, he or she should be able to. But communication outside the classroom should never get more personal than what isn’t completely necessary. We believe that teachers and staff members should refrain from using technology such as Facebook or texting to socialize with and conduct school business with students until after they graduate.

District-approved e-mail addresses are assigned and designated as communication tools between students, parents and staff members. Besides situations similar to the coach-player example, there are not many occasions where a simple e-mail wouldn’t suffice.

Therefore, we urge students to utilize these formal methods of communication with teachers and other staff members. We also urge students not to initiate contact with teachers and other staff members via social networking sites.

As the communications policy draft becomes finalized, we advise the administration to take into consideration a revision of the policy in order for the term “district business” to be more clearly stated.

In addition, we believe the draft will be more effective if it is more specific in terms of what each party is not allowed to do. This will give more clarity to the policy, instead of giving multiple scenarios of what is allowed along with what isn’t.

Cartoon by Moira Blodgett/Staff Artist