School districts making changes to student-teacher communication policies after new law took effect

School districts in Green Country have already started making changes to their policies on student-teacher communications after a new law took effect this week.

FOX23 spoke with State Representative Sherrie Conley who wrote the bill.

“I’m not going to apologize for it because actually I think it’s a long time coming. This should have been addressed a long time ago,” Conley said.

House Bill 3958 limits one-on-one contact with kids and school staff. That bill officially went into effect as law on Monday and impacts every student and every teacher in Oklahoma.

Conley said the purpose was to combat sexual misconduct in school and to protect students.

She said the need for this change is long overdue.

“It says that school employees have to use school-approved platforms in any kind of communications with students, which means whether it’s school group chat or email, that sort of thing. It limits that to what the school has control over,” Conley said.

Conley is the principal author of House Bill 3958.

She along with three other representatives and State Sen. Adam Pugh penned the legislation that was signed into law by the governor in May.

Conley said this bill is to protect students from misconduct and sexual predators in the classroom who might be using texts or social media to prey on children.

“In the research that I’ve done, there has been misconduct that has taken place, and not just sexual misconduct and also harassment. This keeps honest teachers honest and hopefully will hopefully try to impede some of those teachers who are wishing to bring harm to students, you know, maybe it will deter them,” Conley said.

FOX23 has brought you coverage of such behavior from now former teachers.

In June we told you about Kanyen Cole who’s facing sexual assault charges from his time teaching at Miami High School.

Court documents said he had sexual conversations with students and one case led to physical assault.

Conley wants to see an end to cases like Cole’s in Oklahoma.

“In our technological world, we have not been creating legislation, rules, procedures and policies that give guidelines and guardrails for using the technology. I think that this is just the beginning in trying to stop some of this. I believe that this is a good start in making the security of our students a priority,” Conley said.

The specifics of this bill limit conversations to either include a parent or be on a school-approved software that all staff and parents can have access to.

She said in the same way it helps protect teachers as well.

If you want to see the bill that’s now law for yourself, click here .

Several schools have already sent memos out to their parents about this law and their policy changes.

Tulsa, Owasso, and Muskogee Public Schools are just a few districts that have already notified their teachers and families.

You can read Tulsa Public Schools’ memo below:

“Dear TPS Parents and Guardians,

We hope you are having a great summer! We are emailing our families today to share an update on how a new state law may impact how your student receives messages from Tulsa Public Schools team members.

New Oklahoma legislation (HB 3958) sets out specific guidelines for digital communications between district employees and students. Tulsa Public Schools is rapidly implementing these new guidelines.

Any employee’s one-on-one, digital communication with a single student must either include the parent/guardian, or use a district-approved platform and discuss school and academic matters (this also includes school-related items like athletics, after school clubs, etc.)

There are several current district-approved communication platforms allowable for individual communications consistent with this policy. The current list includes TalkingPoints, students’ K12 email accounts, and the messaging features in Canvas, Clever, or GoGuardian. Depending on their grade level or school, your student may end up receiving messages via one or more of these platforms.

Our current board and district policies align well with this new legislation, but will get updated to fully reflect new guidelines. Moving forward, you can anticipate updates to Tulsa’s Board Policy 4414

We are also developing a district webpage to house the public list of district-approved communications platforms. This is where we will regularly-update what software is acceptable for students and Team Tulsa individuals to use for communication about school and academic matters. Employees have also received guidance to include students’ parents where possible – especially if you state that you want to be included in any messages to the students.

Your partnership is crucial to the success of your child or children. We are grateful for your involvement in their growth and learning. We hope the changes from these new communications policies will further enhance our collaboration to support our young people.

Best,

Dr. Ebony Johnson”

Owasso Public Schools’ full letter can be read below.

“Owasso Parents & Guardians,

Hope this email finds you enjoying the summer and I’d like to share some information with you regarding recent legislation. House Bill 3958, approved by Oklahoma legislators and signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt this spring, requires school personnel engaging in electronic or digital communication with an individual student to include the student’s parent or guardian in the electronic or digital communication, unless the communication is on a school-approved platform and related to school and academics.

The law is effective July 1, 2024. To comply with provisions set forth in HB 3958, the Owasso Public Schools Board of Education approved a new policy – #1.89 Student Communication – today as part of a special meeting. The new policy is included here for your reference.

At this time, the district’s approved digital communication platform is Google Workspace, which includes school-issued Gmail. As such, if employees communicate directly with individual students outside of Google Workspace (school-issued Gmail), parents must be included in that communication.

Please note, this new law and policy does not impact mass communication sent from the district or a school site to parents through School Messenger via email or text message.

The district is actively exploring options for digital communications with an individual student to include text messaging and allow for the application to be monitored and supported by the OPS Technology team. Our intention is to have something in place by the start of the school year in August.

We understand that you may have questions about this new policy. Additional information will be provided prior to the start of the school year.

Thank you for your attention to this information.

Sincerely,

Dr. Margaret Coates

Superintendent

Owasso Public Schools”

Muskogee Public Schools’ letter can be read below.

“We want to inform you about an important new policy regarding communication between MPS staff and students. This policy, based on House Bill 3958, was to be adopted by local school boards effective July 1, 2024. The MPS Board of Education approved this policy at the June 25th board meeting.

Policy Overview: All MPS staff must only use the school-approved platforms listed below for communicating with students.

Approved Communication Platforms:

(1) School Email: Communication with students via school-provided email addresses is permitted. (2) Text Messages: Text communication is allowed only in groups with a minimum of 5 students and 2 MPS staff members. Text messages with fewer than 5 students must include the students’ parents/guardians.

Note: MPS intends to remove the text messaging option at the regular July board meeting and add new district-approved communication platforms.

To view the full policy please use the link provided: Section 6: 106220 Staff Members and Electronic or Digital Communication”