Today’s technology can make or break a career. One teacher aide in Bangor, Penn. has found out the hard way that even private photos on your cell phone might cost you your job.
A friend tweeted me the recent story of an unidentified teacher’s aide in the Slate Belt area of Pennsylvania who left her personal cell phone unattended at a social event which was not held on school property. Leaving her phone out-of-sight and unguarded was her second mistake. The first was saving a nude self-portrait in the photo album housed in memory on the phone. You can guess what happened, right? Someone scrolled through her photographs, found the compromising image and forwarded it to everyone on the aide’s contact list, including a school board member. Eventually, the photo made its way onto the phones of members of the student body (grades 7 and up).
In a statement to the Express Times, School District Superintendent John Reinhart said the aide had been a district employee for six years. Said Reinhart, “Her work here with our students has been satisfactory. She’s shown dedication to her job and the students she works with. But this lapse in judgment requires her to resign.”
But does it? The big question is whether bad judgment (or naiveté) takes precedence over the violation of her privacy. I spoke with the newsroom at LehighValleyLive.com, who say there is a meeting of the school board scheduled for Jan. 18, at which they hope to resolve the situation. The aide has not been reachable by the Bangor Area school administration. They last spoke with her on Jan. 5, when she was asked to stay home until an investigation had been completed. According to the folks at LehighValleyLive.com, we’ll know the outcome after the meeting, but in an informal poll conducted on the site, visitors had the opportunity to weigh in on the local controversy. According to the site, 83 percent believe it to be unfair that she be asked to resign.
The lesson here is pretty clear: Don’t put yourself in this kind of workplace conundrum by having private photographs or other communication on your cell phone, or at least make sure your phone is password protected. Our lives are digital open books and the line between personal and private gets blurred by everyday technology.
Even the Supreme Court is about to weigh in on the issue of electronic devices and workplace privacy. There is a case under consideration in which a California Police officer was found to have “sexted” more than 400 personal text messages (an average of 28 per shift) over his department-issued cell phone. Apparently, he exceeded the limit on messaging so his employer checked them out. The officer then sued the Department and the wireless company for invasion of privacy, and won. There were many appeals, and now the highest court in the land will have to decide on whether or not there is an expectation of privacy in a workplace environment. It’s another one of those wait-and-see situations.
But, as we let all forms of technology come into our private and professional lives, it might be best to remember what American biologist and educator Paul Ehrlich said, “To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.”
Nancy Schuman is a vice president at Lloyd Staffing, headquartered in Melville, and is the author of eight how-to books on career guidance and job-search techniques. Lloyd Staffing offers temporary, contract and full-time employment services on a regional and national basis. Send your career-related questions to [email protected].