Province orders ban on private teacher-student messaging

The provincial government has directed publicly funded schools and school divisions to ban private online communication on unmonitored digital platforms between school employees and students.

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said Friday the practice must be banned.

“Teachers have to be able to talk to their students about school, but there should never be a reason to hide that conversation from the eyes of parents or school leaders,” said Schmidt in a news release.

“Families should be able to expect that any time a teacher talks to their students, it’s about school. Our directive will keep kids safe, set expectations for parents and give educators the guidelines they need.”

School employees are to be prohibited from communicating or interacting with students via personal social media accounts, private messaging applications, texting or social media messaging features.

The government said there could be exceptional circumstances in which such communication is required to “support a student’s safety, accessibility, well-being or learning needs.”

However, it must be approved in advance by school officials, and parents or caregivers must be included in the communication or made aware of it.

All schools will be directed to tell students, staff and parents about the changes to their policies and guidelines.

fpcity@winnipegfreepress.com