Teacher Web sites triggering questions

PROVO — A drug arrest. Viewing pornography on a school computer. Dating the president of the senior class.

It's no surprise that teachers caught doing such things could lose their licenses.

Now a new problem is challenging Utah teacher-licensing officials — MySpace.com Web pages posted by teachers.

Like everyone else, it seems, teachers are creating pages about themselves, giving the world a look at their personal lives, sometimes an uncomfortable view of questionable activity for people considered examples for students.

Most of the pages are harmless, but the Professional Practices Department of the Utah State Office of Education has recently discovered items posted by Utah teachers with questionable materials, such as pictures of themselves drinking alcohol with their friends.

"You have the right to do that — except all the students were writing in and commenting" about the teachers' behavior in the photos, said Jean Hill, an attorney who investigates cases of teacher misconduct for the state.

Hill and Carol Lear, director of school law and legislation for Utah's education office, on Friday discussed issues surrounding MySpace.com pages at the Utah Education Law Institute at Brigham Young University.

Lear said that technology is making issues more complex but there are legitimate issues that need to be addressed.

A teacher's constitutional rights of free speech and privacy must be respected, but teachers also have a responsibility to serve as role models to children.

"We're kind of wrestling with what to do. . . . We have a lot of teachers who are 22-23 years old, or kind of young at heart," Lear said.

Hill said one teacher's MySpace.com page has comments from students about other students they don't like. Some pages have links to adult Web sites, she said.

Teachers cannot control who posts messages on their pages unless they limit access by a password. In one case, Lear said, the teacher probably revealed the password to students.

And one person at the conference said a teacher used a MySpace.com page to advocate gay rights. He kept his personal life private in the classroom — but students found his page.

The attorneys asked conference attendees for advice on

how to balance freedom of speech and privacy with the responsibilities of being a role model.

"(Teachers) have the same rights of speech as anybody," said Mike McCoy, attorney for the Utah Education Association.

Rhonda Rose, vice president for legislation of the Utah PTA, said she expects more of a schoolteacher. "They are role models for our children," she said.

One teacher said she resents that she's expected to act like a role model for the community on her own personal time.

A graduate student also said that morals and values vary by communities. Teachers have been fired for having abortions in communities that find it immoral, he said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com