I do want to clarify one issue, however, and it isn't mine.
OCPS has formulated new Management Directives, which are rules ALL employees must follow with no exception. To paraphrase: No employee may contact any student about anything unrelated to an assignment or an extracurricular activity; no student may do the same; no texting between employees and students AT ALL unless they are related; no social networking. PLEASE be judicious when e-mailing me; I have tried to be completely accessible to you, especially during scholarship season, but the new rules say that you cannot contact me via gmail anymore. (I always liked using gmail because unlike our school's e-mail server, it had pretty much unlimited capacity for attachments and the like, and I wouldn't get shut down when a bunch of essays hit me at the same time. I'll have to come up with something, I guess.)
I have historically only added students to a limited view of my Facebook feed AFTER they graduate, and I will continue to do so, but I cannot even be ASKED by you before graduation to Twitter, Facebook, or the like. Also, in the past, I've been pretty open with my phone number, mainly for international travel and our service club, but now I will limit all contact to the school number. This is a sound policy, I think, but it is a reversal from a few years back when we were encouraged to be available to you. Unfortunately, some adults lack discretion and have made some illegal, unethical, and sad choices, so these are our new rules.
You can still reach me at jennifer.hilley@ocps.net, or at 407.893.7200, extension 4605. And, as always, I am around before school and during both lunch shifts in 313. But the days of e-mailing me a cool cartoon about Macbeth or asking if I saw Jeopardy! last night are over, at least for now.
(For the record, I have nothing scandalous on the net, nor ever will; in fact, I'm FB friends with some of your parents. But rules are rules and frankly I think this establishes some pretty clear boundaries in a world fraught with uncertainty and ever-changing technological access.)
To infinity and beyond!
