https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn Anthony deBlois, EDG 6305 Legal and Ethical Principles en-us 2018-06-09 01:29:02 UTC 2023-02-15 18:31:03 UTC hello@padlet.com alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266383048 My professional perspective is to eventually work as a high school counselor in a public school system.  I will receive my master's degree in guidance and counseling in July of 2018.  I am currently an Algebra I collaborative teacher at Warren High School in San Antonio, TX.]]> 2018-06-09 01:30:51 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266383048 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266384526 Harper (2018) notes in her brief about teaching students about sexual harassment that most health and sex education programs do not teach the need for consent in sexual relationships or what a healthy teen relationship looks like. With a current wave of sexual harassment allegations and the #MeToo movement, advocates are pushing for state legislatures to educate students in order to prevent sexual harassment from occurring (Harper, 2018).]]> 2018-06-09 02:07:58 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266384526 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266385798 After exploring legal and ethical issues related to school counseling, I am especially interested in the ethical topic of students' freedom of speech through social media when off-campus. This topic interests me because, as a teacher, I am in the dark as to what students may be communicating on their electronic devices and there is a potential for their discussion to directly or indirectly impact other students or school staff in a negative way.]]> 2018-06-09 02:44:42 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266385798 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266386002 According to an article brief by Jacobson (2017), a Pennsylvania high school cut a student from the Junior Varsity Cheerleading team because she used profanity on a social media post.  A federal court ruled that the school was out of line because the student's post did not create a "'substantial material disruption to school activities'" (Jacobson, 2017, para. 2).  ]]> 2018-06-09 02:52:37 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266386002 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266432205 While searching the Angelo State library, I came across this 2012 peer reviewed journal article, entitled, "Social Media and Free Speech in Education and Sport", by Jim Bemiller and Sylvia Trendafilova.  In this article, the authors discuss the court case  J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, in which an eighth grade student sued the school district for violating her freedom of speech rights after she was suspended by the school for one week for making false accusations about her principal by creating a fake Myspace page with his picture on the profile (Bemiller & Trendafilova, 2012.  ]]> 2018-06-09 21:15:24 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266432205 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266432921 I discussed with Mr. Jaime Collazo, lead counselor at Construction Careers Academy, the various legal and ethical issues that he is faced with each day in his profession and how those issues impact his work and the people around him.  I learned about five important legal and ethical issues during our discussion.

#1: When dealing with female students who may be or are pregnant, there are proper guidelines to follow under the Ethical Standards for School Counselors A2: Confidentiality.  If the student is pregnant or thinks she is, it makes it difficult for a school counselor to decide whether or not to breach the confidentiality agreement.  Jaime Collazo states that, for him, if students are engaged in unsafe sex or if there is over a two year age difference, he will get the parents involved and have to break confidentiality.

#2: School financing and allocation of charter schools poses a challenge for school counselors because students are affected academically, emotionally, and socially.  Because charter schools receive public funding, there is a lack of funding for public schools.    With a lack of funding in public education, there is a lack of funds to employ more teachers or build more classrooms.  This dilemma results in larger class sizes for public schools.  These larger class sizes can cause students to receive less academic attention.  Additionally, some students leave a public school to attend a charter school but then re-enroll in a public school.  By doing this, the student falls behind academically, which becomes stressful for the student.  This added stress affects the student's emotional and social well-being.

#3: According to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the student has the right to confidentiality, unless a student is hurting himself or herself or in imminent danger.  At this point, the counselor must notify the parent.  Based on the Northside Independent School District's board policy, the counselor only has to talk to one parent. This policy can cause stress for the school counselor when dealing with parents who were not informed. 

#4:  One ethical issue that Collazo shared with me involved a case in which three children were referred to Child Protective Services (CPS).  According to Collazo, the three children were taken away from their mother because of the horrible things that the mother was doing to them and around them.  The children were placed with their grandmother and received therapy during this time.  The oldest child, however, wanted to go back to live with her mother.  In confidentiality, she even made accusations to Collazo about the grandmother kicking her and beating her.  Collazo noticed that the grandmother was frail and only 82 lbs. at the time, and concluded that ethically, this was not possible.  As a result, he broke confidentiality to keep the oldest child out of harms way from the mother and told CPS of these accusations. 

#5:  Divorced parents also pose a challenge for school counselors because they will make false accusations about the other.  Collazo says that if a parent tries to present him with a court decree, he makes sure that it is signed by a judge.  According to law, if the court decree is signed by a lawyer or another party, it means nothing.

(J. Collazo, personal communication, June 8, 2018).]]> 2018-06-09 21:31:04 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266432921 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266434756 After performing an internet search on the topic of social media and freedom of speech in education, I happened upon the 2014 legal brief, "Disciplining Students for Off-Campus Conduct", by David Rubin.  In this brief, the author discusses past ethical issues concerning off-campus conduct by students and the need for legislature to create guidelines that align with the values of local communities (Rubin, 2014).]]> 2018-06-09 22:05:05 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266434756 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266497755      Even though the first amendment gives a student the right to freedom of speech, off-campus behavior on social media that does not create a material disruption to school activities, but that does negatively impact other students in the school, creates a challenge for school counselors and other school personnel.  To combat this ethical dilemma, school counselors can consistently monitor student behavior and look for signs of emotional distress. Once a school counselor identifies a student displaying these types of behaviors, interviewing students to investigate the cause of their emotional distress opens a door for school counselors to learn of possible off-campus behavior on social media. One scenario could be a high school student bullying another student on SnapChat.
     If a high school student is mocking another high school student on SnapChat over the weekend, this cyberbullying can cause emotional distress for the student being bullied.  Despite the fact that the child causing the other child's emotional distress is entitled to his or her right to freedom of speech, assuming the posts are not creating a disruption to school activities, the high school counselor is still obligated to provide the victim with services that promote emotional well-being (American School Counselor Association, 2016).  Ethically, the high school counselor must involve administration and go through the proper channels to discipline the perpetrator's actions.  On the other hand,  the high school counselor is bound by law to honor the perpetrator's right to freedom of speech according to the first amendment of the United States  Constitution (Benmiller & Trendafilova, 2012).  Based on the 1969 court decision, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, students have a constitutional right to freedom of speech. If the student did not disrupt school activities, the school counselor, nor administration can discipline the child (Rubin, 2014).  Even though the victim is affected emotionally while at school, the high school counselor's hands are tied.  One possible solution to this dilemma is proposed by Rubin (2014) by calling for legislatures to create additional guidelines that allow school communities to uphold their values. Adopting guidelines that allow school personnel to discipline or notify parents of any off-campus behavior that affects a student emotionally when at school would be beneficial to any school counselor.]]> 2018-06-10 20:16:25 UTC https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266497755 alb198199 https://padlet.com/alb198199/a8jhyed28rcn/wish/266502627 American School Counselor
     Association. (2016). ASCA
     ethical standards for school 
counselors. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/home/SCCompetencies.pdf
Bemiller, J. & Trendafilova, S.
     (2012). Social media and free     
     speech in education and sport.         Journal of Physical Education,     
     Recreation, and Dance, 83(1),     
     7-56.
Harper, A. (2018, January).         
     Teaching students about sexual
     harassment paramount. In
     Education Dive.  Retrieved from https://www.educationdive.com/news/teaching-students-about-sexual-harassment-paramount/515994/
Jacobson, L. (2017, October). 
     Court rules school out of line in
     disciplining social media post.   
     Retrieved from https://www.educationdive.com/news/court-rules-school-out-of-line-in-disciplining-social-media-post/507054/
Rubin, D. (2014, January). School
     administrator: Disciplining
     students for off-campus
     behavior. Retrieved from http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=31274

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