Across the United States, schools examine policies on social
networking between students and teachers Starting last year,
English teacher Karen Comstock found a new method to make sure
her students turn in their assignments. “I provide my cell phone
number to my students. This has dramatically lessened the number
of situations where student either don’t have work or have
another excuse,” Comstock said. “My unofficial motto is `If you
need me, text me and save your sob story.’” One of these
students is freshman Claudia Hurley. Comstock isn’t the only
teacher she communicates with through social media, however. “I
talk to Mr. [Kalani] Lancaster. He’s my percussion teacher and I
have to ask him a lot of questions about the work and the music
we’re playing,” Hurley said. Students have begun using social
media, including Facebook, Twitter and texting, to interact with
their teachers and other students about schoolwork. Recently,
school districts and states have been questioning whether
private teacher-student inte