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NEA Legal & Employment Guidance

Educators’ Rights on Social Media

Social media can be an amazing advocacy tool. NEA members have used Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms for organizing, boosting social movements, and sharing resources.
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Published: April 4, 2023
This resource originally appeared on NEA.org

Because social media has worked its way into every corner of our lives, many school districts have their own social media policies.

Here, we provide general guidance for using social media, but you should check to see if your district has its own social media policy.

This page is intended to provide general information. For specific advice, you should always contact your local union or attorney. 

References

  • 1 Pickering v. Bd. of Ed. of Twp. High Sch. Dist. 205, Will Cty., Illinois, 391 U.S. 563, 568 (1968) (“The problem in any case is to arrive at a balance between the interests of the teacher, as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees.”).
  • 2 Munroe v. Cent. Bucks Sch. Dist., 805 F.3d 454, 467 (3d Cir. 2015) (quoting Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443, 453 (2011)) (noting that the “inappropriate or controversial character of a statement is irrelevant to the question whether it deals with a matter of public concern,” but holding that courts may consider the form and circumstance of the employee’s speech).
  • 3 Id. at 469 (determining that a teacher’s blog, which referenced important public issues, was not speech on a matter of public concern because it was intended to be shared only with friends and was predominantly personal in nature); see In re O’Brien, No. A-2452-11T4, 2013 WL 132508, at *4 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. Jan. 11, 2013) (“O’Brien was not endeavoring to comment on a matter of public interest, that is, the behavior of students in school but was making a personal statement . . . .”).
  • 4 Munroe, 805 F.3d at 472.
  • 5 In re O’Brien, 2013 WL 132508, at *1.
  • 6 Id.
  • 7 Munroe, 805 F.3d at 474.
  • 8 Rhea Mahbubani, ‘It’s awesome that he’s dying’: A Milwaukee teacher was suspended following his tweets about Rush Limbaugh’s cancer, Business Insider (Feb. 6, 2020), https://www.businessinsider.com/milwaukee-teacher-suspended-travis-sarandos-tweet-rush-limbaugh-cancer-2020-2.
  • 9 Zolan Kanno-Youngs, 62 Border Agents Belonged to Offensive Facebook Group, Investigation Finds, N.Y. Times (July 15, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/us/politics/border-patrol-facebook-group.html.
  • 10 See, e.g., Seattle Public Schools, Maintaining Professional Staff / Student Boundaries, Policy No. 5253 (Sept. 9, 2020), https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5253.pdf.
  • 11 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99.
  • 12 Spanierman v. Hughes, 576 F. Supp. 2d 292, 312-13 (D. Conn. 2008).

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