Do you look up your DC's new teacher on Facebook or Google?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary school teacher. I've heard that parents will sometimes try to scope out their child's new teacher on Facebook, Twitter, or just Google them in general. I'm wondering how widespread that practice really is. Do you do it?

People who do not lock down their fb pages and are bothered by people looking at those pages are idiots. Really and truly.

[Anonymous]

I think I posted earlier in this thread. I absolutely google my kid's teachers. This is someone who is going to be spending upwards of 25hrs/wk with my child, if there's information out there then it can be interesting to know. I also google myself every few months to see what's there and if there's anything I should be aware of. And you can bet that before we enter the age of sleepovers I'll be googling parents, too.

Maybe it's the industry I work in, but I don't see it as nefarious and creepy at all.

[Anonymous]

The parents of my students may be scared if they Google me. I just did and there are a bunch of people on FB and Twitter with the same name. Hopefully they have realize they are not me. I searched for my own children's teachers. Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who Googled the other parents in my child's class?

Yuck. Never googled other classroom parents or my kids' teachers. Seems like a waste of time (and I'm a journalist so I'm used to checking people out).

Damn straight I Google just about everyone I meet. Background investigations pay the bills at my house. Why not? Also, it is shocking what people put out there that anyone with a computer can find. I'm not talking about subscription background services, just simply search and returns. I not on FB or linked in, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In fairness, as a teacher I have been known to look up parents.

Same.

This seems creepy. I wouldn't care if a teacher looked me up because there is nothing to see, but I find it odd that you are looking up your students' parents. Are you going to treat their child differently depending on what you find?

Not creepy. See previous post which explains why. Your kid gives us reasons to check you out. After 30 years of teaching, we can often understand the chronic behavior patterns by understanding your behavior.

You sound like a very negative person. Hopefully you are close to retirement.

[Anonymous]

Yes but don't concern myself with it. Out of curiosity sometimes. I'm not one of those parents who judge though. As I have a family member who is a teacher I understand they're people too. If I see a FB post with them holding a glass of beer I don't care.
If they show up on time and do their job what they do out of work isn't by business.

Besides, I know people who are professional, married and live the white picket fence lifestyle with kids in private school - and then go to or host swinger parties. If it doesn't affect their ability to do their jobs then what do I care?

[Anonymous]

this is a timely post.. seeing that I just realized my childs ES teacher mainly communicates through twitter and blog. Yes.. I google/FB search the teachers.. as do most of my mom friends. It seems like common practice, especially if the teachers are using twitter as a method of communication. welcome to the new age!