Should Teacher E-Mails Be Private?
Scholastic Administr@tor Magazine
I found an interesting read in Scholastic Administrator today. The article was around teacher emails that are sent under their school accounts during class time. These emails were at one time were all considered to be non-private, as they are in the business realm. However, in several states they are now considered to be private and personal because they are public/government employees. As public/government employees, they are allowed to use government (work) computers and email accounts for personal use, on an occasional basis.
In a world, where nothing is found to be very private anymore, I found this to be quite interesting. My thought has always been, if it isn’t related to work, you better watch out. You never know who is looking and when. With technology today, you better make sure that you are mindful of the things that you do on your company computers. If you need to send personal emails, at least do it with your personal email account and not your employers. Hello? You are at work!!!
I have always thought the same thing. However, when I first started teaching, we were warned by our principal that we should be careful about what was being put into e-mails. He always said that you never know when "big brother" is watching.
ReplyDeleteIn the workplace, there are always extra eyes watching your every move.
ReplyDeleteWe were never told that we were being watched, we just kind of figured it out on our own. I remember using my planning period one day to balance my checkbook using my online banking site and pay a bill that was going to be late. The next time I decided to check my balance, the website was blocked. I found out eventually that the IT guys at our school monitored the teacher computers in each classroom in addition to the student computers in the lab. Maybe if they observed when I accessed these sites, they would find that I was taking care of personal business on my own time instead of instructional time, and perhaps it wouldn't have been an issue. But I know of teachers that will sit in front of the computer all day. It is the "few" that cause problems for the rest of us.
ReplyDelete