SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES

& CLEAR BOUNDARY

EXPECATIONS
for COACHES
• SCHOOL POLICIES
• SOCIAL MEDIA DO’S and DON’TS
• SPORTSYOU
• PROFESSIONAL TEACHER/STUDENT
RELATIONSHIPS

As ROLE MODELS for students, you are

responsible for your public conduct
even when you are not acting as a
District Employee.
 District Employees will be held to
the same professional standards in
their public use of electronic
media as they are for any other
public conduct.

Local Board Policy: Social Media DH(LOCAL)

An employee shall be held to the same professional
standards in his or her public use of electronic
media as for any other public conduct. An
employee is responsible for the content on any
social network site the employee maintains and for
choosing privacy settings appropriate to the
content. If an employee’s use of electronic media
violates state or federal law or District policy, or
interferes with the employee’s ability to effectively
perform his or her job duties, the employee is
subject to disciplinary action, up to and including
termination of employment.
 PERSONAL USE of ELECTRONIC MEDIA
POLICY

ELECTRONIC • Text messaging

• E-mail
MEDIA • Blogs
• Chat Rooms
includes all • Video-sharing (e.g., YouTube)
forms of • Social Network sites (e.g., Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, SnapChat,
social Pinterest, Flickr, Tumblr, etc…)
• All forms of telecommunication (landlines,
media: cell phones, web-based apps)
 If your use of electronic media interferes with your
ability to effectively perform your job duties, you are
subject to disciplinary action, up to and including
termination of employment.

Always
remember that
you are
members of
responsible for your the public who
the content on you can access
your page, friends your page.
including
content added
by

DON’T do the following:

o DON’T follow or friend your students on Facebook.
o DON’T post during work hours. It just doesn’t look good.
o DON’T post pictures of yourself partying, drinking alcohol or engaging in behavior that might
be considered questionable for a teacher/coach & role model. What you do after hours is
your business. Don’t make it everyone’s.

o DON’T post unprofessional comments about your students, their families, coworkers,
administrators or the district in which you work.

o DON’T connect with colleagues you’re unsure about…being social media friends is not part of
the job description.
o THINK TWICE before connecting with parents on social media.
o DON’T assume that you are protected by your First Amendment rights. Like it or not,
coaches are held to a different moral standard than the rest of society.
DO the following:
o Control your privacy settings.

o Show what you’re proud of…done something great? Let people know.

o Disconnect or unfollow people that represent negativity or those that might blast you.

o Take care when posting pictures of others.

o Connect with colleagues with whom you feel safe.

o If you are concerned about privacy, be cautious about Twitter. Even if your account is
protected, somebody with an unprotected account may blast the world with your tweets.
 To prevent potential inappropriate
teacher/student relationships,
Clear Boundaries must be understood.
•Administrative Regulations are forthcoming
which will detail how teachers may interact
with students using social media and other
communication technologies

•The Texas legislature has already started the

process of drafting and adopting stricter legal
definitions for teacher/student relationships
 Under Texas Ed law, teachers will be
charged with an improper relationship with
a student regardless of whether or not the
student is in their district.

Teachers will also have their certificates

revoked if they receive deferred
adjudication of guilt or are ordered to
register as a sex offender.

Teachers also lose their entire TRS

retirement pension if found guilty.

TEXTING WITH STUDENTS CAN COST YOU

YOUR JOB!

“High school teacher accused of ‘improperly texting' student suspended”

“Coach left after complaints of improper texting”

“Brown Co. track coach resigns after allegations of 'improper' texting”

“Holmes Central coach resigns, denies texting students”

“Houston Middle & High School teacher/football coach dismissed for

inappropriate texts”

“River Valley teacher fired over texts”

 ALL COACHES USE SPORTSYOU TO
COMMUNICATE:
WILL SET UP • PRACTICE TIMES and
and USE A CHANGES
• GAME TIMES and CHANGES
SPORTSYOU • GAME SITE CHANGES
COACHES ACCOUNT IN • PARENT MEETINGS
SHOULD NOT BE • BANQUET INFO

TEXTING WITH ORDER TO • PARENT NIGHT REMINDERS

• POSITIVE NEWS ABOUT
ATHLETES! SAFELY and YOUR PROGRAM-attach
articles from weekly
EFFECTIVELY update
COMMUNICATE • ANY LAST MINUTE
INFORMATION THAT NEEDS
WITH PLAYERS TO BE SHARED WITH
PARENTS
& PARENTS.

PROFESSIONAL TEACHER/STUDENT
RELATIONSHIPS

THERE SHOULD BE CLEAR BOUNDARIES IN

TEACHER/STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS.
 CLEAR BOUNDARIES:
UNACCEPTABLE/INVASIVE CONDUCT
• Any type of inappropriate physical contact with a student or any
other conduct that might be considered harassment
• Showing inappropriate images to a student, including pornography
• Dating a student or discussing or planning a future romantic or
sexual relationship with a student
• Making sexual advances toward a student
• A flirtatious, romantic or sexual relationship with a student
• Unnecessarily invading a student’s personal privacy
• Singling out a particular student or students for personal attention
and friendship beyond professional staff/student relationship
• Socializing where students are consuming alcohol, drugs or
tobacco

CLEAR BOUNDARIES:
UNACCEPTABLE/INVASIVE CONDUCT
• Providing or offering to provide alcohol, drugs or tobacco to students
• Sending students on personal errands unrelated to any educational,
non-curricular or extracurricular purpose
• Banter, allusions, jokes or innuendoes of a sexual nature
• Asking a student to keep a secret
• Disclosing inappropriate personal, sexual, family, employment concerns or
other inappropriate private matters
• Addressing students with personalized terms of endearment or pet names
that would suggest the staff member feels love or affection for the
student. As a staff member, permitting students to address you with
personalized terms of endearment, pet names or otherwise in an overly
familiar manner
 CLEAR BOUNDARIES:
UNACCEPTABLE/INVASIVE CONDUCT
• Maintaining personal contact with a student outside of school by phone,
text message, email, instant messenger, internet chat rooms, social
networking sites or letters. Must use Remind 101 for all contact!
• Exchanging gift cards or letters that are personal or extravagant in nature
with a student
• Socializing or spending time with students outside of school related or
school sponsored curricular or extracurricular activities or organized
community activities
• Giving a student a ride alone in a vehicle in a non-emergency situation or
situation that can be avoided.

PLEASE PROTECT
YOURSELF AND YOUR
CAREER BY
FOLLOWING THESE
GUIDELINES.