Sunday Boston Herald Page One screamer:

ACEBOOK FLAP

Mass. districts eye cyber-crackdown on teachers

Lede of piece (on Page Nine – so much for the cover story):

Teachers could be disciplined or fired for friending students on Facebook and school administrators would be encouraged to comb the Web for cyber-transgressions under a new policy being pitched to Massachusetts districts.

It’s mind-boggling that this would even be an issue. Handy rule of thumb #1: No teacher should ever friend a student on Facebook. It’s just plain creepy.

But, according to the Herald, “some education experts and teachers worry the policy is too restrictive and invades privacy.”

Get a load of this one:

“It’s inappropriate for anyone to tell a teacher that they can’t have a picture of themselves drinking or smoking – I don’t consider that anybody’s business,” said June Talvitie-Siple, 56, a former supervisor and science teacher at Cohasset High who was forced to resign this summer after she called kids “germ bags” on Facebook and labeled the town’s residents snobby. “I think it’s dangerous to decide what is inappropriate and what is appropriate.”

Hey, June: Didn’t you just say what’s “inappropriate?”

Handy rule of thumb #2: Anyone who can’t be consistent from one sentence to the next shouldn’t be allowed to teach children under any circumstances.

That’s appropriate.