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The negative press about educators' indescretions in Facebook posting is enough to send the 21st century school leader running in the opposite direction when someone talks about engaging in the use that media for school communication. But such thinking ignores the fact that other media has been, and will be abused in the same way. When a school staff members uses the phone line to engage in illicit activity, we don't take our the phone lines. We deal with the real issue, that staff member's behavior, not the technology.

But once a school leader gets beyond the fear, there are three good reasons to use Facebook to communicate with the larger community and the world. Here they are:

• Use Facebook to inform and Educate: This is probably the way it is most used by school leaders. Facebook is the perfect medium to announce what is happening in your school or district. You can post about new school or district initiatives. Post those big news items such as visiting dignitaries, budget information, and even new educational programs. Facebook is a source of news for an increasingly large number of our constituients, so we need to use it in that manner.
• Use Facebook to engage stakeholders: Facebook is an opportunity though, to move beyond just making announcements, and engage your stakeholders in conversations about your school or district. Once you've established clear guidelines for comments and posts, you can engage your parents in discussions about the proposed school dress code, or the new bell schedule. There's no reason to be afraid of those conversations. They are going to happen anyway. Bringing them to Facebook just brings those conversations under your radar so that you can know your community's true feelings about what you're doing. This is taking Facebook use to another whole level that many districts and district leaders aren't ready to move to, mine included.
• Use Facebook to entertain stakeholders and to celebrate: Facebook is a perfect opportunity to entertain your stakeholders with the many talents your students have. Posting a video of the band performing, or a interesting video created by a student are the kinds of things our parents find entertaining. It is also a way to celebrate the great things your school or district is doing.

It truly is tempting to either ignore the movement by organizations to social media due to all the negative press it receives. But to do so limits your school or district from taking advantage of one of the most effective 21st century communication tools.

Since the state of  Missouri passed a law banning teacher use of online social media communications with students, states and districts across the country are stepping up their examinations of social media and its place in schools. Social media in general, and Facebook in particular has become the tool of the boogeyman and predator to lure children to do things they wouldn't do otherwise. In usual fashion, politicians and policymakers react in knee-jerk fashion to stories of teachers using Facebook and other social media in improper and illegal ways to implement bans and regulations. The whole problem with this approach is that it is the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

Truth be told, those who have the inclination to prey on our children, are going to prey on our children, and this includes teachers too. For the sake of disclosure here, I will admit my own reluctance in "friending" students, both current students and those I've taught who are now adults. At this point in my experiments with the social media, I haven't connected with either type of student. Still, the idea of "forbidding connections" made through social media is clearly an exercise in jousting with windmills. It will not resolve the problems it's trying to resolve. Those who engage in predatory behaviors towards children are going to do so, and banning social media isn't going to to stop them.

Then the question is, "What can policymakers and school leaders do instead?" "How can we address these growing number of cases where teachers engage in inappropriate behavior using social media?" Perhaps we should begin by thinking differently. Here's some suggestions to think about:

• Treat improper contact and communication with social media the same way we would improper text messages or phone calls. Do we ban text messaging of students because a teacher sends an improper message to a student? Do we forbid teachers from calling students because a teacher uses the phone to engage in an improper conversation with a student? When a teacher engages in an improper and unprofessional conversation with a student, it is the interaction that is the problem, not the medium on which that interaction took place. Banning the medium might take away one of the avenues for that interaction, but it ultimately fails to address the problem.
• Focus on the real problem. Policies that focus on the medium rather than the real problem are doomed to failure. In some ways, those who push social media bans do so because they can appease their conscience. They did something. Never mind that the actions they took fail to address the real problem which is: we hire and have individuals in our schools who seek improper relationships with our children. Perhaps instead of stamping out social media in the schools, we need to look closely for warning signs that there are individuals in our schools who abuse the role of educator to prey upon children. Maybe we need to pay closer attention to our screening processes. Social media isn't the problem. It's a fabricated boogeyman that deflects administrators from taking on the real difficult problem of shepherding those out of our schools who engage in inappropriate relationships with our students.
• Pay attention to warning signs. Those who seek improper relationships with children often indirectly and directly broadcast those intentions through their interactions with the children they teach. While we certainly do not want to make teacher-student relationships absolutely sterile, we can, as administrators, scrutinize those who are in our schools, and who seem to cross the line between being a professional and being too-familiar with students. For example, a teacher that might be crossing the line might be spending an inordinate amount of time with a student, or they might be speaking with a student at a level that is too familiar. Administrators can do a great deal at preventing inappropriate relationships by being observant regarding the interactions teachers and staff have with students.
• Educate Staff. This is especially important for young staff; those closer to the ages of the students they teach. They need to understand the importance of teacher-student boundaries and the severe consequences of crossing those boundaries. Staff needs to understand that social media, if used to maintain a professional relationship with students, can be used effectively. They need to know what it looks like to be too familiar with students, and what a professional relationship looks like.