Teachers Awarded Injunction to Halt Facebook Law

The Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) just learned it was awarded an injunction to stop a new Missouri social networking law from taking effect Sunday.

"We just found out about two minutes ago. We're wrapping our heads around it, but this is a good resolution at this point," Todd Fuller, MSTA director of communications told Town and Country-Manchester Patch.

As previously reported by , the Missouri State Teachers Association is suing the state over a new Missouri social network law that prevents students and teachers from having conversations that cannot be accessed by school administrators and parents. This also means they cannot be friends on Facebook.

Senate Bill 54, also known as the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, is sponsored by former Ladue school board member and Missouri State Senator Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, and is designed to protect students.

A main thrust of the bill was the need to make the law more clear about a school district's responsibilities when dealing with teachers accused of sexual misconduct. MSTA opposes the section of the bill that teachers feel will inhibit their ability to communicate with students through social media sites such as Facebook and through text messaging, since it is now a common method of communication.

MSTA filed the lawsuit Aug. 19 and named Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster as the defendants.

The law was set to take effect Sunday, but a judge awarded the injunction that Turner said takes effect immediately and lasts 180 days.

"We're really happy because the judge realized that there is an issue with this particular section of the law," Fuller told Patch. "But the bigger issue is that we don't have to rush to create the language. At this point, we have time to review the issue."

In an news release, MSTA stated, "Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem granted MSTA's request for a preliminary injunction this morning. Judge Beetem found that based upon the evidence, teachers in Missouri use social media as one of their primary forms of communication. Judge Beetem stated that the law 'clearly prohibits communication between family members and their teacher parents using these types of sites. The Court finds that the statute would have a chilling effect on speech.'"

"This gives everyone time to debate and discuss the issue to come to a proper resolution rather than rushing to piece together language that doesn't resolve the concerns of educators or allow time for teacher input," said MSTA Legal Counsel, Gail McCray, in an news release.

Editor's Note:  Eureka-Wildwood Patch has a call into Cunningham for more details. Check back shortly for an update.

Addition at 1:11 p.m.:  Cunningham has received more than 75 interview requests in the past hour. She and her chief of staff, Kit Crancer, are working through them all.

Sen. Cunningham's response and perspective as of 2:20 p.m.:

Cunningham said she welcomes the opportunity to clarify the law and remove any ambiguity. "Kit and I are working with educational stakeholders and arrived at compromise language to address this specific issue," she said.

The groups she cited include:  Missouri National Education Association, Missouri Association Federation of Teachers, Missouri School Board Association, and the Missouri Association of School Administrators.

"I'm pleased to work through the policies that the Missouri School Board had in place. Many of our Missouri school districts already had addressed this issue, and they know how to effectively do it," said Cunningham.

"The judge has given us 180 days; I don't need that. We have compromise language and are ready to resolve this."

She said the governor now will be including this matter in his special session, so she felt they would be able to address the resolution as early as Sept. 6.

"There's a hard way to do this, and an easy way," Cunningham said. "MSTA took the hard and very expensive way.

She said she felt sorry for dues-paying MSTA members because they were paying for matters, such as this, to be handled, but now "their money was being used to sabotage something their organization initially helped to craft and endorse."

Cunningham said all it takes is communications, just like what occurred when she attended the board of education meeting Thursday evening. She and Rockwood chief information officer, Steve Beatty, were able to go through three main questions he had. "He said that immediately helped clear up the confusion. It's just called 'communication.' I am approachable and available—if anyone had any questions about this law, they just needed to ask," she said.

The goal, she reminded, is to get a law in place that protects both students and educators and keeps everyone safe.

Read related article from Aug. 22:

The Missouri National Education Association issued the following statement in an e-mail Friday:  "We are pleased that Governor Nixon and the court agree with our members that this portion of the new law needs to be fixed. Missouri NEA will continue to work with legislators and the other education organizations to find a long-term solution that goes well beyond the 180 day time frame outlined in this morning's court decision. The problematic language in SB54 needs to be addressed  by the General Assembly—and not by the courts—because that allows educators, school districts and the students we serve to be a part of the solution."

Editor's Note 3:07 p.m.:  Nanci Gonder, press secretary for Attorney General Chris Koster's  Office, tells Patch that Koster does not have a comment Friday about the injunction.