[Teachldsseminary] [CHAT] Instructor-Youth Email Policy

[Beth Adams]

This is excellent counsel. We have had additional problems with stalking in our area.  The young women had placed pictures of each girl on the bullitin board in their room which is also used for other activities.  One of these girls was seen by a young man who then became obsessed with her and followed her.  He also got contact information from others allowing him to harass her, as I understand it, through her e-mail. We are now asked not to place pictures of the girls on the walls. 
   
   It is unfortunate that we live in a world where we must be extra careful to protect ourselves as well as our youth. Things we see as innocent can be taken as something else entirely, or our trusting natures can be taken advantage of.  In the beginning of the year last year we had Seminary orientation at which the parents were asked for their e-mail addresses, if they were comfortable, so we could have an additional way to contact them and their child.  Contact for our class has always been made through the parents e-mail.  
  
"E. Keith \"JB\" Howick, Jr." <howick at windriverpublishing.com> wrote:
  CES might have an email policy, but my Handbook does not have a global 
Church policy about instructors contacting children and youth via email.

However, we live in a world that treats adult-child misunderstandings 
with decreasing tolerance. This is reflected by the Church taking 
stronger and stronger stances to avoid compromised relationships between 
children/youth and adult instructors (c.f. the recent changes in Primary 
staffing policies). I believe that the majority of Church members are 
trustworthy in this matter, but it's not the majority the Church is 
worried about. As useful as email is, the fundamental problem is that 
parents rarely see the contents of emails sent to their children.

If CES doesn't have a global no-email policy today I wouldn't be 
surprised to learn about one in the future. If local CES coordinators 
do allow instructor-youth emails, I recommend teachers follow Sister 
Maynard's example and copy each student's parents on every email. I 
would even recommend taking the step of securing permission from each 
student's parents so that you know they know what's going on.

Pres. Howick
Wallace Branch


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