Schools watchdog begs DOE to ban teacher-student texting in effort to stop sex abuse

https://nypost.com/2024/05/11/us-news/schools-watchdog-begs-doe-to-ban-teacher-student-texting/

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Published May 11, 2024, 10:11 a.m. ET

Electronic sexual grooming by educators is an ongoing threat to students in NYC public schools — despite dozens of pleas from school investigators for DOE to stop student-teacher cell-phone contact, experts told The Post.

Since 2018, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools has filed at least 41 formal recommendations urging the Department of Education to ban teachers and staffers from contacting students‘ personal cell phone numbers and social media accounts — most recently in a case filed April 16, records show.

But the DOE has refused to take heed, relying instead on toothless “social media guidelines” that “discourage,” but do not prohibit, such interactions.“There is no reason that teachers should be contacting students privately on their private emails, on their private cell phones, especially on their social media,” said Dr. Elizabeth Jeglic of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who researches institutional sexual abuse and grooming.