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School board 'proactive' on social media policy
(by Sue Hoffman - September 14, 2011)
School board 'proactive' on social media policy
By SUE HOFFMAN
The Solon School Board adopted a policy revision Monday that addresses teacher-student communication through texting, Facebook, Twitter and other networking media.
The policy revision limits such communication to curricular, co-curricular or extracurricular activities, with oversight by building principals.
School officials said the policy revision is a proactive measure and not in response to problems in the district. It is also a work in progress, they said.
"Many, many policies are starting to evolve about relationships between students and faculty members," School Superintendent Joseph V. Regano said. Communication during nonschool hours can sometimes be a problem, he said.
"The policy does a better job of informing professional staff about their obligations with students, especially in terms of social media," Mr. Regano said. "It makes sure teachers understand what their roles and responsibilities are, and also that students understand those responsibilities.
Regarding misuse of networking, Mr. Regano said, "There have been no major incidents with it, but there have been incidents in other school districts. We're going to work harder at educating not only our teachers but our students on when they communicate and how they communicate."
Mr. Regano said teachers are working longer in the evenings to answer questions from students. Better communication is a good thing, he said, but the district needs to guard against misuse. "We're making sure that these boundaries exist between staff and students."
The policy, titled "Student Supervision and Welfare," now includes a new directive, which says, "Staff members shall only engage in electronic communication with students via email, texting, social media and/or online networking media, such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, My Space, Skype, blogs, etc., when such communication is directly related to curricular matters or co-curricular/extracurricular events or activities."
The revision also prohibits staff members from electronically transmitting any personally identifiable image of a student unless it is part of a preapproved activity.
"It's important to know that there are uses that are fine and would continue," Tamara Strom, director of communication services, said. These include a text broadcast from coaches to a team about a time change on when the bus is leaving, especially over the weekend.
"A teacher could do the same thing," she said, such as when there's a special documentary on television that relates to school subject matter.
Students and teachers are now using technology to write blogs on the school's Intranet, which is not available to the public, she said.
The policy guards against misuse, she said. "As we hear of these things happening around the country, we want to make sure we're proactive in thinking about how technology is used."
Teachers will discuss communications with the school principal before proceeding with networking media, she said.
School board members commented on the importance of the policy update. Board member Margo Morrow said staff and students are protected by understanding what is appropriate.
With the policy, President Julie Glavin said, "there are no misunderstandings of what the expectations are. A lot of school districts have issues with social media situations."
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