Teacher-student texting grows, but so does concern about the trend

Hannan Adely
NorthJersey
Growing numbers of high school teachers use texts to communicate with students and their parents.

More educators are using text messages to communicate with students, recognizing that texts can be the quickest and most effective way to distribute information about class assignments, schedule changes and exams. 

But they are also taking extra precautions to make sure conversations don’t put them, or their students, at risk, at a time when controversies over improper use of texting continue to mount. 

Parents and administrators can also play a role in overseeing communications, experts say. 

“If you’re going to text, it should just be for information purposes and it should be to a group," said Meghan DeCarlo, a teacher and track coach at Garfield High School, who uses a text-messaging app to communicate with athletes. "You have to be mindful of what you're doing. You’re an adult texting a teenager."

New Jersey school districts must have rules in place that define and limit how text messaging should be used, and many educators rely on apps with built-in features for privacy and protection.

The precautions help ensure that texting remains professional and proper – a key concern amid recent controversies involving text exchanges between educators and students.

In one case, a wrestling coach at Bergen Catholic High School sent a series of text messages to a student saying how much he loved him and asking to wrestle with him — messages that are now evidence in a sexual abuse lawsuit.

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And in January, a Passaic teacher was criminally charged after he was accused of sending sexually inappropriate text messages to two students. 

Despite such controversies, schools should not be afraid to embrace texting technology, said Laura Zieger, chairwoman of the Department of Education Technology at New Jersey City University. 

Studies in higher education have shown that text alerts to students can help improve outcomes, she said. For instance, students who got reminders were more likely to submit financial aid forms on time. 

But educators should use caution as they would in any other scenario with students, said Zieger, noting that teachers are advised not to be alone with students and to keep classroom doors open. 

Texting is the most popular form of digital communication for Americans, especially young people.

"The good thing about technology is it leaves a paper trail," she said.

DeCarlo uses a program called Remind to create a class code that students and parents can use to subscribe to messages. The program shows names but not personal phone numbers, and teachers can impose do not disturb times. 

DeCarlo has used it to alert athletes to bus changes, weather cancellations and other announcements. This year, she wants to extend the platform to students in her American Studies class and their parents.

“I just feel like it’s safer in today’s day and age than giving out a personal number,” she said.

Email is out, texting is in

Text messaging has usurped email and other forms of electronic communication for many Americans, and especially for young people.

Casey Bedwell-Coll, a sophomore at Glen Rock High School, estimates that she sends or receives around 150 text messages each day. Like her peers, she said she rarely checks email. But so far, none of her teachers have used texting to get out information, she said. She hopes that will change.

“I think it would help,” she said. “We have a website on which we can see assignments and can use things like Google Classroom, but sometimes they’re difficult to use. When a text pops up, you’re more likely to pay attention.”

Sunzida Ahmed, who graduated from Fair Lawn High School in the spring, said many of her teachers have used text messages to send out reminders about tests or give assignments if they were going to be absent. A former student council president, Ahmed was also part of a group chat with a teacher-adviser to discuss topics like fundraising and meeting times.

“In my junior year, it started getting popular,” said Ahmed, now a freshman at Rutgers University. “It was really helpful. You get messages back a lot faster than email.”

Her teachers used programs like GroupMe and Remind to text students by phone. Remind, popular among schools, allows teachers to send messages to the entire class while keeping individual phone numbers private.  Parents can also sign up to get the messages and stay up-to-date on assignments their kids need to complete.

With the app, teachers can also set time restrictions on when students can send them questions. The history of exchanges is stored and can be viewed by the school’s administration.

Brian Grey, chief executive officer of Remind, based in San Francisco, said 27 million people use the app, including about 2 million teachers. It builds relationships and two-way communication that can improve student outcomes, he said.

Leaving a paper trail

Since 2014, New Jersey has required schools to have policies in place for proper use of social media and electronic communication, but no specific rules are mandated.

The New Jersey School Boards Association has a model policy that says messaging should only be used for official school business and, in most cases, should be sent to the entire group and not to individual students. It also states that staff shouldn’t send messages that could be perceived to be racist, sexist or profane; that promote illegal activity; or that can be interpreted as flirtatious or sexual.

“Employees must conduct themselves in ways that do not distract from or disrupt the educational process,” the policy states.

But districts are free to craft their own policies and some still shy away from texting. The Bergen County Technical Schools district, which includes the prestigious Bergen Academies magnet high school, restricts communication between staff and students outside of school hours to school email.

Texting is the most popular form of digital communication for Americans, especially young people.

Andrea Sheridan, assistant superintendent, said in an email that the concerns were “accountability and protection,” but she declined to comment further.

Text messages have emerged as key evidence in the lawsuit filed in April accusing Bergen Catholic wresting coach David Bell of sex abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault. In a period of four months in 2016, Bell had sent 94 text messages to student Anthony “Tony” Asatrian, then 16, including expressions of affection and heart emojis.

A Superior Court judge dismissed all but two of the charges last month, but refused to dismiss two elements of the case — that he suffered emotional distress as a result of what he claims to be unwanted sexual advances and texts by his coach, and that Bergen Catholic reportedly undermined his efforts to transfer to two other Catholic high schools.

"In any field there are going to be bad apples, so hopefully the technology will help," said New Jersey City University's Zieger. "I would feel better knowing there's a record of my child's interaction with the teacher that I could read."

Teachers are in a hard place because they are encouraged to make emotional connections with students who need to feel welcome and safe, said Liz Kolb, a clinical assistant professor of learning technologies at the University of Michigan. 

At the same time, she said, digital messages can sometimes be misconstrued. 

"Something sarcastic might be considered mean," Kolb said. "Something considered innocuous and affectionate may be considered sexual. Teachers have to be careful."

Often, school administrators use program settings that allow them to access and review messages. Many educators also invite parents to subscribe to text message groups. 

Parents should observe, not micromanage

Parents should talk to children about texting with adults and let them know what's acceptable, said Kolb. They can advise them that messages should be solely academic and if they are personal, they should show them to their parents. 

If parents come across a questionable message, they should bring it to school administration, Kolb said. 

But parents also need to watch how they use the technology themselves. If they subscribe to messages, they should act as observers instead of using their account to monitor their children every day.

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High school is a time when teenagers need to learn important skills like organizing their time and meeting deadlines without constant reminders from their parents, Kolb said. 

"Sometimes parents want to helicopter or control what their children are doing," she said. "When children are in high school or secondary school, they need to be able to fail and make mistakes.

"When parents are getting all the messages and being able to have direct communication all the time," she said, "it means students are not learning important life skills and responsibility."