Sioux Falls officials see it differently, and a new policy restricting online interaction between students and staff has some teachers upset.

The school board in June revised its policy on the ethical use of technology. It added new language asking all staff to "distinguish between personal ... and professional social networking sites."

No longer would staff be allowed to bring unrelated students from the Sioux Falls School District into their personal networks on sites such as Facebook. "Friending" students on pages created for professional use, however, still is OK.

Deb Merxbauer, head of the Sioux Falls Education Association, said the policy has made it more difficult for some employees to keep tabs on their own children. Parents who work for the district can be Facebook friends with their own children, but not many of their children's friends.

"As parents in the district, they feel a need to be friends with their children's friends in order to safely monitor what their children are doing on the Web," Merxbauer said. "SFEA is definitely very concerned about that piece of it. Anything that becomes an infringement on parental rights as an employee is a concern."

The union leader brought those concerns to the district in private meetings and again at the public board meeting Monday evening. But board members and administrators say the policy will stand - at least for now.

Board member Debbie Hoffman worries that giving teachers virtual access to students at all hours of the day would expose them to more risk as mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect.

Superintendent Pam Homan said lawyers for the district advised against changing the policy.

Merxbauer said the policy misses the mark. The district last year had concerns about content posted on an employee's social networking site, she said, but the policy doesn't address content.

"It really doesn't address the problem ... which is inappropriate content on these personal sites," Merxbauer said. "I would think the intent of the policy is to guide the type of the content."

Board member Darin Daby said it's appropriate to separate professional and personal networks, however difficult that might be.

"There's just a general line that needs to be drawn between the professional and the social ... and social networking sites blur that line considerably," he said.

Board member Doug Morrison said he's "comfortable with where we've got the line drawn now."

The policy makes sense to Doug Hebert of Sioux Falls, a parent who no longer has children attending school in the district. Professional sites might help students develop their skills, he said, but there's the potential for teachers to favor students who want to socialize online.

"If it's personal, it might promote favoritism, and you don't want that in the schools," Hebert said.

Christensen, the Brandon Valley teacher, said he accepts Facebook "friend" requests from students but doesn't seek them out. He doesn't pay attention to what kids post on their own pages and hasn't had any problems with inappropriate or concerning content.

As much as anything, the virtual friendships have helped his students see their teacher and coach as a real person with a wife and daughter.

"Kids these days, more than ever, need positive influences," he said.

[And, now, my comments about this piece:]

What next? District policies that prohibit acknowledging students in the grocery store?

This is clearly a culture issue:

(1) Board members and their advisors automatically take the position that policy must be written from a perspective that assumes teachers WILL do something wrong. This is sad. School employees are professionals. It should be incumbent upon the Board to prescribe policy positions that support ethical and well-intentioned practices of the professionals they hired.

(2) "[...] Lawyers for the district advised against changing the policy..." What do lawyers understand about pedagogy, and is it in their nature--generationally or experientially--to view social media as an opportunity to educate about and model information literacy?

Can't the Board see this as an opportunity to leverage the creativity of their professional employees, whose use of social media might have a significant positive impact on the district's teaching and learning environment?