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Local School Board Spells Out Communication Guidelines in Wake of Sexual Allegations

School staff can't send one-on-one texts to students and need to copy their students' parents on emails.

(TNS)  — The Burrell School Board approved a policy Tuesday to solidify the district's practices regarding electronic communication between students and staff.

Superintendent Shannon Wagner said the policy formalizes the district's directive to limit contact between students and staff on social media and other forms of communications to school-related issues.

Wagner said staff, including athletic coaches, should only be contacting students through district-sponsored email accounts and including parents on those communications.

Text and other messages sent to groups of students — such as a sports team — should prevent individual students from continuing one-on-one messaging with an adult.

Districts across the state have been considering similar student-staff communication policies in the wake of the criminal cases against three Plum School District teachers who allegedly had sexual contact with students.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association drafted boilerplate guidelines on which many districts are basing their policies.

©2016 The Valley News-Dispatch (Tarentum, Pa.), distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.