The Consequences of a Teacher’s Facebook Comments

We should all know by now that nothing you post on Facebook is private. You may have gone through all the privacy settings to thoroughly lock down your profile, but even so, you can never be sure that your posts will remain hidden. Facebook alters their privacy settings so frequently, you never know when or how the defaults will change. No matter how strict your privacy settings are, accepting a friend request from a stranger (who may be a human resource officer, for example) allows him or her to see your private comments, which can always be easily copied, pasted, and shared with the world.

The New York Post reported, that a Brooklyn NY teacher said some bad stuff regarding her fifth-graders referencing the death of a 12-year-old Harlem school girl who drowned on a class trip.

While on a field trip, the teacher used her Blackberry to post, “After today, I’m thinking the beach is a good trip for my class. I hate their guts.” When a Facebook friend asked, “Wouldn’t you throw a life jacket to little Kwami?” she wrote back, “No, I wouldn’t for a million dollars.”

Yikes!

Normally, this is when I would explain that it is never a good idea to announce to the world how much you hate your boss, neighbor, students’ teachers, or spouse, and that you’d like to boil a bunny on the stove to teach them a lesson. I guarantee that even if you are kidding, someone will be offended. Everything you do on the Internet lasts forever.

However, I’d rather encourage anyone with a position of authority and responsibility for others to please, go ahead and post your feelings, thoughts, and motivations as loudly and as clearly as possible. We want to know who you really are. It’s best that you come out of the closet now, so you can be removed from your position if necessary.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing sharing too much information online on Fox News. Disclosures.