To read press accounts, one would think that Stacey Snyder was dismissed from her teacher preparation program at Millersville University solely because she posted a picture of herself on her myspace site with the caption “drunken pirate” posted underneath. However, like most press accounts, there’s more to the story…much more.

Perhaps Snyder began believing the hype at some point and conveniently disregarded some of the finer details of her student teaching experience because she ultimately sued her university.  Among other things, Stacey argued that the university had violated her right to freedom of expression and that the court should compel the university to recommend Stacey to the State of Pennsylvania for a teaching certificate. In Snyder v. Millersville University (Dec. 2008), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania gives us “the rest of the story,” as well as some points to ponder. After a two-day trial, the court concluded that throughout her student teaching term Stacey experienced great difficulty with respect to her “competence and over-familiarity with her students.” The court cited numerous examples that spelled trouble for Stacey long before her “drunken pirate” photo surfaced:

• problems with classroom management documented by her university supervisor
• problems with course content documented by her university supervisor
• issues regarding appropriate communication between Stacey and her students, supervisors and cooperating teachers documented by her university supervisor
• the need to establish proper teacher-student boundaries documented by her university supervisor
• ignorance of basic grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage as noted by her supervising teacher
• inadequate classroom management as  noted by her supervising teacher
• poor understanding of the subjects she attempted to teach as noted by her supervising teacher
• inappropriate manner with students as noted by her supervising teacher

If all this was not enough to put Stacey’s recommendation for a teaching certificate in jeopardy, Stacey made it somewhat “easy” for the university to dismiss her from the teacher preparation program when she disregarded advice relating to her social networking site. University officials testified at trial that all student teachers were cautioned during their student teaching orientation “not to refer to any students or teachers on their personal webpages.”

Student teachers were further cautioned that schools had the prerogative to remove a student teacher from their placement. In spite of the warnings, court records indicate that Stacey let her students know about her myspace page, was aware that students were visiting it, and posted commentary that reflected negatively on certain unnamed school officials. It was not long after Stacey had posted her negative commentary that school officials read it for themselves online (as well as observed her “drunken pirate” photo). And it was not long thereafter that Stacey’s university supervisor called her to inform her that she was no longer welcomed at the school that held her future teaching career in its hands.  By the way, if you have not already concluded this for yourself, the court ruled in favor of the defendants on all counts.

Stacey lost her case…and her career. It’s a sad story, but one that has a lesson for everyone. First, we all need to be critical consumers of information lest we think a young woman lost her teaching career over a rather innocuous photo captioned “drunken pirate.” Second, the defendants in this case (various university employees) successfully defended themselves because of their detailed, ongoing documentation of issues they observed. Finally, student teachers are more “teacher” than they are “student” when it comes to student teaching.

This has both legal and practical ramifications. From a legal perspective, the private grievances of public employees (e.g., Stacey’s negative commentary posted on her myspace site) are not protected by the First Amendment. From a practical perspective, student teachers teach in their local school placement at the will and good graces of their cooperating school district. As a result, it behooves a student teacher to refrain from “biting the hand that feeds it!”

Additionally, student teachers need to demonstrate professionalism…something that can be easily undermined by inviting or allowing students to socially network with their teacher online. Professionalism in teaching demands that the teacher establish some clearly defined boundaries between the personal and the professional, and, at a minimum, demands that one removes their “drunken pirate” photos from their myspace page!