What's happening
This bill prohibits school district employees from contacting minors on social media without parental consent, except for educational purposes or family members.
Why it matters
Broader definition of “social media”. The bill expands the term to include not only traditional platforms like Facebook or Instagram, but also text messages and image transmissions, meaning even direct messaging and texting between school staff and students is covered.
Written parental consent required. Any contact between a school employee and a minor student on social media (outside approved educational platforms or family relationships) must have explicit written permission from a parent or legal guardian, creating a paper trail and adding a layer of oversight.
Educational exceptions and family carve-outs. The bill allows for necessary digital communication on school-approved educational platforms, and exempts family members, recognizing that some employee-student relationships may be familial and not inherently problematic.
Potential impact on communication and student safety. By regulating and documenting digital contact, the bill aims to protect minors from inappropriate interactions, but may also restrict informal mentorship, crisis support, or extracurricular communications that often occur outside official channels.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Limit Teacher-Student Social Media
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6760
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 17, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. CUSICK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to prohibiting school district employees from having contact with children under the age of eighteen on social media
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 3037 to read as follows:
§ 3037. Prohibition of contact on social media. 1. No teacher, teacher's aide, administrator, or other employee of a school district shall be friends with, follow, or otherwise associate with a child under the age of eighteen via social media without the written consent of a parent or legal guardian unless such child is a family member; provided, however, that this section shall not prevent a teacher, teacher's aide, administrator, or other employee of a school district from interacting with or associating with a child under the age of eighteen on a website or social media which is approved by the school to be used for educational purposes.
2. For the purposes of this section:
a. the term "family member" shall mean a son, daughter, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or grandchild of the teacher or a son, daughter, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or grandchild of the spouse or partner of such teacher, teacher's aide, administrator, or other employee of a school district.
b. the term "social media" shall include, but shall not be limited to, forms of communication through which users participate in online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. Social media shall also include text messages and the transmission of images via electronic forms of communication.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10605-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.