JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley School Board on Monday approved a first reading of a new policy dealing with teacher student relationships.

The district already has a code of conduct, but it is not as specific as the proposed policy and does not address social media, Superintendent Tracy Vitale told the board last week.

“While much of this might seem like common sense, we think that with the new onset of social media, it gets more difficult at times for any professional in the education world to say ‘OK what is acceptable on Twitter between me and a student or what is acceptable in an e-mail?’” she said.

The proposed policy covers all teachers, volunteers and other adults who are on school grounds and interact with students.

It lists prohibited conduct for adults including romantic flirtation, dating, making personal comments about a student’s body, intimate touching and sexual contact regardless of the student’s age.

Social contact between students and teachers, such as exchanging notes or e-mails, meeting in private or giving a student gifts are prohibited unless there is a “legitimate educational reason” for doing so.

Touching students is allowed when there is an educational reason such as coaching or music instruction.

Under the policy, adults are not permitted to follow or accept friend requests from students on personal social networking sites. Electronic communication with students is for educational reasons only and is done with district-provided e-mail or other district-provided devices.

The policy does allow exceptions for adults who are involved in community organizations outside of school or whose children are friends with students, leading to contact outside of school.

Violations of the policy may be subject to discipline or termination.

The board will need to approve second and third readings of the policy before it would go into effect this June, director of communications Linda Andreassi said.

There was no specific incident or problem that served as impetus for the new policy, Andreassi said. Officials had been considering it for several months because of the increasing use of social media and online communications, she said.

However, in February, the district suspended middle school math teacher Jonathan Brecht without pay after he was charged with possession of child pornography. Brecht allegedly downloaded the images at his home in Franklin Park, Allegheny County,

He was not accused of doing anything illegal at school, but he also was accused of chatting online with a minor and asking her if she wanted to meet in person.

The proposed policy, “Maintaining Professional Adult/Student Boundaries,” was created from a template provided by the Pennsylvania School Board Association.