New Kentucky Law Brings New Challenges to Communications with Students

As schools across the mountains begin their summer break, educators and administrators are turning their attention to a new law that could significantly impact how they communicate with students.

Senate Bill 181, recently passed by the Kentucky General Assembly, requires school districts to implement traceable communication systems when employees message students online. The legislation aims to protect students from inappropriate or unmonitored contact by ensuring transparency in all digital interactions between staff and students.

Senator Phillip Wheeler, who co-sponsored the bill, said the goal is not to interfere with positive relationships between students and educators, but to safeguard children from potential misconduct.

“Our intention is not to harm the relationship between students and school administrators or teachers,” Wheeler said. “But just to make sure that kids—who are really our most vulnerable people in society—are protected from that very small number of bad apples who might seek to abuse these types of privileged communications.”

The bill has prompted school systems across the state to reevaluate how staff interact with students on digital platforms, particularly through social media and messaging apps.

In a statement to The Mountain Advocate, Knox County Schools Director of District Communications Frank Shelton said, “Knox County Public Schools has always had measures in place that required staff to report the creation of a Facebook page, group, or other social media platform. However, as social media is setup, there were few ways to catch each page and to monitor communication.

“As a result of SB 181, this will allow us to tighten up our policy while also allowing more flexible two-way communication between parents, teachers, students, coaches, and the school itself.  We will be launching this at the beginning of school and training employees on usage.  It will have a very similar feed to what users of social media are used to, but also provide for text and phone calls.  This will be a benefit to our parent involvement, not just another regulation to fulfill.  Examples include a student who is having trouble with their NTI assignment may notify the teacher using the app and/or web-based system for immediate messaging.  Other examples are coaches letting players know that practice is cancelled or telling parents that students are delayed returning back to school. Ultimately, the knowledge and use of personal phone numbers will be eliminated, and all communications will be logged, providing new methods for everyone to exchange information.”

Barbourville Independent Schools is undergoing review of its policies and will make a decision in coming days. The school system utilizes ParentSquare for communications between the school and families.