SN posting photos of her "special" students on FB and instagram

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The new SN teacher strikes me as very green so I googled her to find out her past experience. (The school never shares this). I found her public FB and IG and she posts photos of students including mine and some self-congratulatory humble brag crap about how tough it is working with SN kids but just seeing their smiles blah blah. She's young and I doubt she meant to come across as full of herself and condescending about "special kids." We keep a low profile online and I'm highly annoyed she did this without permission. Names of kids are not there, but they are clearly identified as special needs and attending blah blah elementary. We don't want to offend her since DC gets lots of pull out and pull-in. I feel strange saying I found your FB and IG and please take down my kid's photo. On the other hand IMO she has no right and we want the photos taken down. There's an added piece I can't go into about why we don't post our photos online. WWYD?

OP,

Our schools explicitly forbids posting kids pictures on social media. If this were my kid's school she'd be fired. I would tell her straight out to stop posting. I would also report it to the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks you for the feedback. I think I may start with her and if she doesn't seem to get why I am annoyed I will love up the chain. I agree they grew up with oversharing so it's a different mentality. On the other hand it's so unprofessional. I also hate that she seems to see kids with SN as some sort of charity and she is so giving and amazing to help our poor defective kids. I doubt she meant to come across like this, but that was my initial impression.

I think that is a very mature way to handle it. Since she is quite young, I don't think she understands the complexity of the situation and the view from a parents perspective. As a teacher, we do get talks about boundaries and privacy. However, as someone who was once new, mistakes can happen. See if this stops what is happening. If not, definitely go to the principal or even if it does stop you may want to write him/her an anonymous note about how teacher's social media should reflect the schools best interests.

+1. I would also share with her your feelings about how it came across to you in a non-judgmental way. It would solve your kid's issue and it would make her a better SN teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: The new SN teacher strikes me as very green so I googled her to find out her past experience. (The school never shares this). I found her public FB and IG and she posts photos of students including mine and some self-congratulatory humble brag crap about how tough it is working with SN kids but just seeing their smiles blah blah. She's young and I doubt she meant to come across as full of herself and condescending about "special kids." We keep a low profile online and I'm highly annoyed she did this without permission. Names of kids are not there, but they are clearly identified as special needs and attending blah blah elementary. We don't want to offend her since DC gets lots of pull out and pull-in. I feel strange saying I found your FB and IG and please take down my kid's photo. On the other hand IMO she has no right and we want the photos taken down. There's an added piece I can't go into about why we don't post our photos online. WWYD?

Does she identify the students or the school?

She identifies where she teachers in her "about" section so it is easy to figure out where all these kids went to school.My kid was not even aware of being photographed because many seem to be candid photos.

Some of these suggestions are over the top. Approach the teacher and tell her that you are aware of your child being on social media and you are requesting that she remove it immediately before you take further action. You can put it in writing or if she is approachable (which she seems to be) then have a conversation with her. The going to principal, Superintendent, and school board are all over the top and will make it more than what it is. It is a exuberant new teacher excited about working with your child and probably hasn't read the handbook yet about using student images.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy hell she should know better. She's breaking the law. I'd email her principal ASAP.

Oh come on^^^^!! While I agree that she "should know better", please remember how green and naive you yourself were at your first professional job. I am 1000% sure that you made stupid mistakes and those around you also thought "Hmmm....Larla should really know better" but your co-workers were kind enough to NOT go to your boss - or in this case the principal of the school.

OP needs to deal with this directly with the teacher. Treat her like the professional adult that she is. She is an educated professional who made a mistake so give her the opportunity to fix her mistake and don't be one of THOSE parents that makes this teacher sour on being a teacher, especially a SpEd teacher.

Where I worked, someone ratted out a first year associate for a huge breach of confidentiality that was very similar to this. He had only been working for about a month. He was fired immediately. The work world is for grownups.

[Anonymous]

Why not just create an anonymous email account and send her a link to this thread? Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, you are going to really put her down, she's excited and wants to help. WTF. It doesn't take a genius to figure out she's a sn teacher and pictures of her students etc.... there is nothing wrong she didn't state names or the disability.

When you identify the school, you are making it clear where these kids can be found. While the chances some pedophile figures kids with SN are easier prey will come get the kids is below 1%, it should be the parent's decision whether the child's photo is posted and special needs status is revealed.

Ok you are reaching here, not all sn are easier prey. I guess we should shutdown all students photos.

Let's say your child's teacher posts a picture of him and says something like "Love working with my slowest readers! They are dumb but so cute!" That would be cool with you, right? Because you don't want to "shutdown" sharing of student photos.

She didn't say that did she

[Anonymous]

Go to the principal. No need to shield this woman from the consequences of her actions. Protect yourself/your kid from possible retaliation by letting the principal handle it.

I'm kind of appalled by the pp's who think this woman may not know better because she grew up w social media but I think the opposite is true. She knows exactly what she's doing and is cultivating an image of herself online for her friends and family that involves OP's child. Not cool.

[Anonymous]

Go to the principal. No need to shield this woman from the consequences of her actions. Protect yourself/your kid from possible retaliation by letting the principal handle it.

I'm kind of appalled by the pp's who think this woman may not know better because she grew up w social media but I think the opposite is true. She knows exactly what she's doing and is cultivating an image of herself online for her friends and family that involves OP's child. Not cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, you are going to really put her down, she's excited and wants to help. WTF. It doesn't take a genius to figure out she's a sn teacher and pictures of her students etc.... there is nothing wrong she didn't state names or the disability.

When you identify the school, you are making it clear where these kids can be found. While the chances some pedophile figures kids with SN are easier prey will come get the kids is below 1%, it should be the parent's decision whether the child's photo is posted and special needs status is revealed.

Ok you are reaching here, not all sn are easier prey. I guess we should shutdown all students photos.

Let's say your child's teacher posts a picture of him and says something like "Love working with my slowest readers! They are dumb but so cute!" That would be cool with you, right? Because you don't want to "shutdown" sharing of student photos.

She didn't say that did she

Yes, she basically did say that. She posted something most people would consider both confidential and negative (children have special needs/children are slow readers) and implied she was super awesome for nobly working with them. Its the same damn thing.

[Anonymous]

I would just take a bunch of screen shots and send to the principal or AP and ask them to speak with her about removing the photos. No need to out yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just take a bunch of screen shots and send to the principal or AP and ask them to speak with her about removing the photos. No need to out yourself.

If OP can create an anonymous email to send screen shots to the principal, she can do the same to send them to the teacher first. This is likely the teacher's first professional job. Make this a teachable moment not about punishing her.

[Anonymous]

I am Facebook friends with a couple teachers who post pictures of their students all the time.
It's usually special events at school, such as when they had a reptile man come in, but sometimes just regular classroom pictures with captions like "I love these kids" or "what a fun day we had today!"
They are both public school elementary teachers. It's been going on for years. So probably not a law against it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Are teachers told things like this are inappropriate? Is there a code of ethics or some list of regulations? If not, I would not want to see her get in trouble. I'm pissed and if she were seasoned I'd say it's inexcusable. She is young and probably doesn't get why this is highly inappropriate and offensive.

I'm a teacher and while I would love to post photos of my students because they are awesome, I don't do it. It is against policy to do this even though other teachers do it. Take a screenshot in case there is an issue of whether or not she did it. Then email the principal. If he/she needs proof, you will have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Facebook friends with a couple teachers who post pictures of their students all the time.
It's usually special events at school, such as when they had a reptile man come in, but sometimes just regular classroom pictures with captions like "I love these kids" or "what a fun day we had today!"
They are both public school elementary teachers. It's been going on for years. So probably not a law against it

Just because they do it doesn't make it ethical and it doesn't mean they are in compliance with school regulations. If there are no identifiable faces and it's just the backs of their heads as they watch reptile man introduce his critters then NBD. I'm not a fan of people plastering their own children all over public FB and IG accounts, but I'd rather see that then taking photos of other people's kids and displaying them without permission. It's creepy. You can say you love your job and post a selfie in front of your chalkboard. No need to violate the privacy of your students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Are teachers told things like this are inappropriate? Is there a code of ethics or some list of regulations? If not, I would not want to see her get in trouble. I'm pissed and if she were seasoned I'd say it's inexcusable. She is young and probably doesn't get why this is highly inappropriate and offensive.

I'm a teacher and while I would love to post photos of my students because they are awesome, I don't do it. It is against policy to do this even though other teachers do it. Take a screenshot in case there is an issue of whether or not she did it. Then email the principal. If he/she needs proof, you will have it.

On behalf of the parents of your students I want to thank you for being respectful of your students. I'm glad to hear that there is a policy at your school.