ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

The staff in Professional Relations Services has been responding to an increased number of calls regarding situations caused by students using a variety of electronic communication tools to malign or harass members of ETFO. The response of the school boards in these situations has varied widely. Because this is an area that is rapidly developing it is important that you be aware of your rights and responsibilities and that you take the necessary steps to protect yourself.

Examples of the abuses which have taken place include the following: students downloading sexually explicit pictures from the internet, substituting the face of one of the persons depicted with a school staff member's photo and then distributing it; anonymous emails from students to teachers with sexual innuendo; insults or other inappropriate communications; and students creating web sites which malign teachers.

Because the legal and arbitral treatment of such issues is still emerging, the general principles for approaching such issues are varied. The common theme established to date is that the person making the electronic communications is held to the same standards as persons making non-electronic communications of a similar nature. These communications have a detrimental effect on the educator, and the school environment. They may involve a large audience and be spread extremely quickly. Because of the impact these communications have, they should be dealt with quickly and thoroughly.

The following process should be followed when dealing with inappropriate student electronic communications:

1. Contact your local ETFO office

2. Reporting to the administration

3. Determining whether or not the communication is inappropriate

4. Responding to human rights infractions

5. Involving the police

6. Imposing student discipline

In situations when the school board does not act appropriately, the Federation may consider filing a grievance on behalf of the member. The focus of the grievance would not be the communication itself but the board response or lack of response. For example, provisions in collective agreements involving human rights protections or provisions for harassment-free workplaces may be considered as the basis for grievances. In each case the specific provisions of the individual collective agreement would need to be considered. Your Local President would make this determination in conjunction with the appropriate ETFO Collective Bargaining staff.

It is important for members of ETFO to remember that communications that may appear to be anonymous may actually originate from someone within the school community. For this reason in particular, it is important for members to resist inclinations to respond in kind when they receive such anonymous electronic communications.

Unprofessional responses may invite potential disciplinary action by the Ontario College of Teachers or the school board.

Educators should be as careful with electronic communications as they would be with any written communications. Recently there have been some widely reported cases where communications between an educator and students were made public, leading to extreme professional difficulties. It is important that we remember that anything we put in writing may be shared with a wider audience; this is truer with e-mail. The need for appropriate professional caution in this area is considerable.

Staff in Professional Relations Services would be pleased to assist you in dealing with situations such as this should they arise.