“You may as well name [the act] after Cleopatra because it didn’t affect her either,” said Adam Goldstein, attorney ad-vocate for the Student Press Law Center. Amy Hestir, now 40-years-old, suffered from sexual ha-rassment by a school employ-ee during her middle school years. Senator Jane Cunningham sponsored the original Amy Hestir Student Protection Act. It was signed into Missouri state law as of August 2011. This Act was signed into a law to prevent sexual misconduct between students and teach-ers. This law prohibits students and teachers from having any sort of private communica-tion. This includes social me-dia websites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, Goldstein believes this law is absurd. “Facebook didn’t even exist when Amy Hestir was the vic-tim,” said Goldstein. “I’m sure there have been dumber laws, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.” In the Mehlville School Dis-

News Student Prints 3

trict teachers have been ad-vised not to be-friend students on social media platforms prior to graduation. The law fails to address many ques-tions directly, leaving many teachers frustrated. “It’s not very specific in talk-ing about private communi-cation between students and teachers,” said Bill Maxfield, teacher. On August 19th the Missouri Teachers Association (MSTA) and the American Civil Liber-ties Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri challenged this law in separate lawsuits. Many of the officials within these organiza-tions dispute the constitution-ality of the law. John Beetam, the circuit judge for Cole County, ruled that there should be no penal-ties or consequences for teach-ers using social media in order to communicate with students. Judge Beetam also granted the request for a preliminary injunction* for 180 days that nullified the portion of the bill

that stated, “no teacher shall es-tablish, maintain, or use a non work-related internet site which allows exclusive access with a current or former student.” Due to the con-

troversy and opposition, the Missouri State Senate unani-mously repealed the law the week of September 11. As of now, the bill is being sent to the House so it can be assigned to a committee and debated. As far as too much com-munication, the law sets solid guidelines for student-teacher relations. “I think it’s a healthy law. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I don’t see any reason why a teacher would need to have a relationship with a student without a parent or adminis-trator knowing,” said Denise Swanger, head principal. On the other hand, Gold-stein does not understand how this law is going to prevent child predators. “The law implies that we cannot generally trust teach-ers. Yet we leave them in a

Emmons has made a great effort to make herself known and available to the students at Mehlville. “She worked this summer and got to know some of the kids over at summer school, and had plenty of time to kind of get used to Mehlville. So when school started, she was ready to jump right in,” said Joanna Van Der Tuin, fellow counselor. Students begin to open up as they see Emmons one on one and get acquainted with her. “So far it’s been a lot of just introducing myself, getting to know the students. [I’m] starting to meet with some of them more regularly. A lot of it is family stuff, maybe having problems with other students, you know, relationship kinds of things. There’s been some that I’ve met that are having problems like maybe they’ve lost somebody recently. There’s a big variety of people and issues that they’re having,” said Emmons.

Though Emmons is working for a religiously affiliated orga-nization at a public school, she says this does not affect her job in any way. “This is the first faith based agency I’ve worked for. It’s kind of nice because if students do have a Christian faith, then they can talk to me about that and know it’s safe to do that, if not though, it’s fine,” said Emmons. Emmons, like many who take up counseling, gets satisfaction out of seeing people Christian and non-Christian alike over-come their problems. “I like talking to people; helping them,” said Emmons. Swanger speaks for many when she agrees that is just what Emmons is doing. “We’ve taken advantage of a great opportunity and it’s really helped Mehlville.”

room with students for six hours per day where they have personal, individual contact,” said Goldstein. Although this law prohibits contact through social media, it does not prohibit sites where administrators or parents have access to the public communi-cation between students and teachers. For example, Moodle, the public forum where teach-ers can post assignments and discussions, is perfectly legal since it is accessible to ad-ministrators and parents. The same goes with Huddle, coach-es can post information on the site about practices or games and it is legal because parents and administrators have ac-cess. Ultimately, with good inten-tions, the law sets boundaries for communication between students and teachers simply to protect the students. The goal is to ensure that students do not become victims to sexual predators. *According to Law.com, an injunction is: A writ (order) is-sued by a court ordering someone to do something or prohibiting some act after a court hearing.

New Missouri Technology Law Affects Student/ Teacher Communication

1983: Amy Hestir was sexu-ally harrassed by a coach at her school in North Central MO.

Aug. 19, 2011: Law chal-langed by MSTA and ACLU.

Aug. 24, 2011: Judge Beetam issued preliminary injunction against the state, temporarily

suspending the law.

Aug, 28, 2011: Law set to take effect, prohibiting teachers from using social media to communi-cate with students

Oct. 14, 2011: Deadline for repeal by the general assembly.

story anushri thakkar co-editor-in-chief