This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 23, 2011 - The Missouri House swiftly voted 139-2 this morning to change the state's newly enacted "Facebook law" that, according to the courts, apparently barred most social-media communication between teachers and students.
The House's approval of the bill, already OKed by the state Senate, sends the measure on to Gov. Jay Nixon's desk.
Nixon, however, had called for the legislature to repeal the provision. The change approved this morning calls for each of the state's 529 school districts to pass a social-media policy, but does not stipulate what the policy should be.
State Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, who handled the bill, called the original ban and the proposed fix "a lesson to us all in the effect of unintended consequences."
The aim of the original bill had been to discourage inappropriate social-media communication between teachers and students, but court challenges contend that the restriction also violates free-speech rights. The change comes as a Cole County Court prevented the original law from going to effect.
Some teachers and school districts said the ban also restricted legitimate and appropriate communication with students.
The chief author of the original bill is state Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield. She also is the author of the measure to change the provision. Her measure has the support of teacher and school-administrative groups.
The new wording, in effect, requires local school districts to come up with a policy for social-media communication. But the new bill doesn't go into the particulars of what the policy should be, beyond some broad outlines. It also gives districts more time, until March 2012, to put a policy in place.
Kelly said the bill provides flexibility to local school districts in determining policies that work well for them.
"It is supportive of the concept of local control," Kelly said. "The idea that we know more or that we're more committed to students than school board members I think is fallacious," Kelly said. "We have respect for our school board members. We have respect for our school boards. And this will give them -- the people closest to home -- the ability to govern in this area."
While the so-called "Facebook fix" passed by a huge margin, at least two lawmakers expressed misgivings.
Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, questioned whether this approach would prompt school boards to adopt unconstitutional policies.
"What I'm afraid that we're doing is we're taking one big unconstitutional law and we're telling 529 different school districts to act to adopt a policy," Barnes said. "Some of them are going to adopt constitutional policies. But some of them probably aren't."
"We just trade one big unconstitutional ball of wax for 529 little balls of wax," Barnes added.
In response to Barnes' argumentation, Kelly said it is "possible" a school district may adopt an "unconstitutional" policy. Kelly said, though, that boards will have guidance from the Missouri School Boards Association, educational groups and the American Civil Liberties Union.
"They'll have guidance from many different groups and organization about the correct way to do this," Kelly said. "That doesn't mean everyone's going to get it right every time. It means that over time, the best policy will emerge."
Jason Rosenbaum is a freelance writer.
