BY ISABELLA CRUZ, JENA GONZALIVES, AND DAIZEE VILLA

Because of the many different stories we hear on the news and sometimes even see for ourselves, we know that it is not good practice for any teacher, advisor or student to have any contact or relationship that is not school related, especially based on recent events that have occurred near our school. But when a teacher shows any extra attention or communicates with a student about non school related issues, why is that behavior frowned upon?

High school is a strenuous time for many students because of all the hours that must be spent in order to succeed. It’s a time when teenagers begin to discover their strengths and weaknesses, their talents, their friends, and what kind of person they want to be. Sometimes as teens, we tend to get overwhelmed or stressed with everything going on in our lives and we want to be able to talk to someone about it. Talking to teachers with whom we have a strong bond with sometimes relieves the stress that high school can cause. As teenagers, telling people about our feelings on certain situations help us to better understand ourselves. Sometimes the only person students feel they can talk to is a teacher because they may be an only child or their parents are not there for them.

Throughout all of this, maturity starts to kick in and with it comes all the responsibilities. If we spend all
our time in high school only associating with students our age, it’s more difficult to really mature and grow as a person. Communicating with adults is an important step towards becoming one and being around adults who are not our parents can really teach us how to properly do so.

Last month, the Teachers Association in West Covina (TAWC) had emailed teachers asking them to “refrain from giving personal cell number students” and “never have casual conversations via chat/social media or cell with students.”

Agreeing with these statements, West Covina Unified School District’s Board of Education policy mentions that inappropriate employee conduct includes “engaging in inappropriate socialization or
fraternization with a student or soliciting, encouraging, or maintaining an inappropriate
written, verbal, or physical relationship with a student.”

However, teachers and coaches should already know what conversations should and shouldn’t be held with a student. Yes, there should be a certain extent to which a student and teacher should communicate, but expecting a teacher or advisor to completely cut off any communication outside of school and still expect us students to succeed could be difficult to attain.

If an advisor of a club has something important to tell the club’s president or officers and it is crucial for them to know as soon as possible, what’s easier than texting or emailing the information? If a coach
needs to inform their team of a canceled practice or game, the most reasonable way would be to text them. As teens, we always have our phones on us.For a student who is trying to balance school work, sports, and clubs having some communication with an advisor outside of school can be necessary.

In our generation, social media plays a huge role in our society. Should teachers and students be “friends?” Social media is considered an inappropriate way for students and teachers to communicate and something that we completely agree with.

Social media sites are very open. There are certain things that students post that teachers shouldn’t and don’t want to see and vice versa.

Most of you may have heard about the incident that happened at South Hills. If you haven’t, two teachers took several students to the beach, provided alcohol for them, and continued with other things. Those teachers pushed the boundary, which now makes it even harder for parents and administrators to believe that a student and a teacher can really have a relationship outside of the classroom.

This is exactly why there definitely should be boundaries between a student and their teacher.

Discussing personal topics or using class time to talk to a student about something that is unrelated to school can be inappropriate.Making it obvious to other students that a teacher gives extra attention to one specific student is also. Being alone in a room with a teacher or spending hours after school with a teacher, if it is irrelevant to school, sports or clubs, isn’t okay.