Thoughts on teachers losing their jobs because of something they post on social media or other online activities? Is it really reasonable for teachers to be held to higher standards in their off time? If someone wants to share their beliefs on their personal SM profile or earn extra money online, why should they lose their teaching jobs because of it?

You have freedom of speech however, there are repercussions for your actions regardless of where you work. Basic cyber security 101 is don’t post anything in SM you aren’t proud of. People are showing their true character and if said teacher/employee is spewing hate toward our country etc., I certainly don’t want them teaching my child, they don’t represent the kind of behaviors we want emulated from our youth. That goes for any business, health care etc.

Absolutely they should. How can anyone celebrate and be happy about a man almost getting his head blown off just because his beliefs are different than yours. If you’re ok with this then something is very very wrong with you and you not be anywhere near a classroom much less teaching kids anything.

Sending out messages to our youth that murder is justifiable should absolutely grounds to be fired. It is our duty as educators to ensure that we model for these children how learn deal with conflict and emotions in a healthy manner.

Teachers have been losing jobs since social media arrived for inappropriate post. Our admin reminds us every year at the beginning of school.

It really doesn't matter if it's reasonable or not. It's the way it is. We're held to a higher standard than most professionals, and given we're working directly with children, I think that makes sense. This is yet another reminder to stay off of social media, or at the very least, keep your opinions off it. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

It’s really simple: if you are a teacher, don’t create a threatening atmosphere for students who might disagree with your politics by publicly celebrating the murder of people you disagree with.

People in other professions can lose their jobs for social media posts. As I teach my Government students, freedom of speech is not the same thing as freedom from consequence.

That being said, it would be nearly impossible to fire a teacher in my state solely for stuff on social media. But, before you are tenured the district can decide not to rehire you for any reason, so it's definitely smart for young teachers to be extra cautious. It's also possible that someone isn't fired, but their situation basically becomes hard to deal with because of reactions from parents and/or students and they decide to resign.

Either way, it's smart to realize that, like it or not, you are a public figure and your actions should take that into account.

If you need to ask this question as a tescher, you need a new profession.

Good start. No matter how you cut issues like this, this is a horrible tragedy with two children and a wife left without a father and husband.

This is an issue where I've changed my mind over the years. Ten years ago, maybe even six or seven, my answer would have been a resounding "No." I was of the opinion that there was line between the personal and the professional, and it was an overreach for employers to go digging for reasons to fire people, no matter how petty. However, the situation on the ground has changed, as they say.

Social media is more pervasive now. People are showing little to no restraint, and they're revealing themselves to be awful people that have no business teaching children. I still believe that merely stating opinions should be protected, even in private enterprise. However, if you're advocating or celebrating violence, openly denigrating your students or your employer, or crossing professional boundaries, then yes, you open yourself up to disciplinary action as you are no longer a good representative of your school.

GHS: if you need to ask this question, I hope you are not a teacher or in the education business.

From the cases I've read about, it seems like some people do have legal recourse. It'll be interesting to see how the cases play out in court, if it gets to that. My own personal opinion is that it's just stupid to put yourself in that kind of situation. People have been blowing themselves up on social media for decades now, so we should all know the drill. I have opinions about issues and some of the characters in the news, but, I just don't see any need to engage in social media outbursts.

Welcome to the Fourth Reich.

I kind of feel like as a public school teacher I have a responsibility to keep all my public social media completely politically neutral just like I am completely neutral at school, but that’s just how I personally feel. I think it’s wild that anyone could lose their job for saying an opinion on a personal social media account outside of school hours unless they were calling for more violence or something of the like.

There's the way the world should be, and the way the world is. We should be allowed to be people for the other hours during the day when we aren't educating students. But the reality is, people who don't agree with whatever you're saying are going to try to weaponize what you have to say against you anyway they can. I think teachers need to be aware of that, but so does everybody else these days.

First off, being fired for things you say online is written into most school employment contracts. Mine specifically words it as "things that reflect poorly on the district posted in public places", and the tech department encourages everyone to private their Facebook to comply with this.

However, I think stating facts and directly quoting someone should not get anyone fired. And if we're being truthful here, that is exactly what's happening right now.

I find it ironic that to honor a champion of the First Amendment people are monitoring and punishing speech.

MHS2
Previous administration threaten social media about running stories that didn’t fit their narrative. This was acknowledge by owners of Face Book etc under testimony.
They also silenced speech of individuals that was later proved accurate.
Media/government/Democrats you can’t walk you dog OUTSIDE without a mask. It’s ok for large groups o people to get together and riot without a covid mask.

Let’s not forget Democrats spending 3 years with the Russian Hoax trying to over turn an elected President.
Do I trust Trump to be the ultimate decision maker about acceptable speech no but more than MHS 2 with your racist statement.

Let’s don’t forget FBI censorship.
Charlie Kirk open debate if disagree with me come to the front of the line.

Laws and statutes changed and misapplied to try to remove a setting President.

MSST1: Right on!!

Because the school boards have the right to do that. Other companies have fired people for that, so not sure why it is so surprising. I guess the myth that "it's impossible to fire a teacher" is wrong. If you post something, then the haterz of whatever side you are on will say that you are indoctrinating the kids. Funny thing is that I can't teach them math, but somehow they are hanging on every word I say. Also, I know of way more conservative teachers that get in trouble for this. Most teachers in my district that do a good job try to get the kids to research things and make their own decisions on what helps them. It's not really about indoctrination. If you give a poor kid (non white) both sides of a story, they can easily select what side is truly going to benefit them.