by Kevin W Byrom

Created on: August 13, 2011   Last Updated: January 20, 2012

On July 14, 2011, Jay Nixon, the governor of Missouri, signed into law Senate Bill 54, which is also known as the "Amy Hestir Student Protection Act," prohibiting teachers from using social media websites, whether public or private, to communicate with students, even if the student requests help from the teacher through these websites.

To understand the external driving force behind this law, you have to take a trip back through time into the life of a Columbia woman by the name of

Amy Histir. At the age of 12, according to her, a teacher in the north-central area of Missouri began to have a sexual relationship with her and it continued until she reached the age of 14. It was at this time that she told the teacher she wanted the relationship to end, and upon doing so, according to her, the male teacher raped her.

Years later, when Amy Histir discovered that this particular male teacher was still teaching in the state of Missouri, she came forward with her story of sexual abuse. Since the sexual impropriety had exceeded the Missouri statute of limitations of 10 years, the teacher who she accused of raping her could not be tried.

Teachers, it could be said, are the most revered, hated, and often probed communicators of information in the nation. Their ability to impart their knowledge and experience to their students, is one of the primary factors which determines the outcome of any child's educational experience across the realm of the educational system throughout the United States of America.

When social networking sites expanded the horizons of educators to reach out a helping hand to their students, many teachers found these sites to be valuable tools when a student needed additional help during after-school hours. Whether a student needed extra help with their homework, or the teacher needed to disseminate information along to their students quickly, these sites were found to be quite useful.

With the knowledge of the Amy Histir incident, Missouri law-makers decided that they needed to craft a law to afford more protection to their students in the digital age. The "Amy Hestir Student Protection Act" was designed to protect all of the Missouri students from sexual misconduct between teachers and students who have accounts on social networking websites. It would appear that by banning contact between teachers and students through these websites, the chances of an unethical teacher causing another incident will become minimal at best.

According to FoxNews.com, "State

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