Unless you live under a rock, you could not possibly have missed the rise of social media to prominence in everyday life. The meteoric rise of media outlets like Facebook or Twitter has been both utilitarian and problematic at the same time. On one hand these services allow an unprecedented transfer of information worldwide while simultaneously accentuating the darkest elements of human nature. Particularly problematic for public policy makers beyond how quickly social media has arisen is how deeply the institutions have permeated all levels of society and business. Public policy makers at all levels of government cannot keep up with the social media phenomenon and your school district is no exception.
Your school district has decided not to participate in social media for several reasons. First, there are legal issues relating to public record retention that do not have adequate solutions yet. It is unclear what social media posts need to be retained and if so, what is an acceptable method to retain them. The district does not believe it would be a prudent to direct resources away from curriculum and instruction to develop solutions to these problems at this time. Also, social media is expensive to maintain on an ongoing basis. To properly maintain a commercial social media site will require at least 20 man hours per week. It is for these reasons that your district has elected to remain on the sidelines regarding social media. This decision unfortunately has not prevented our district from being distracted by social media.
Many of our students have social media accounts. By and large, this is not a problem. It is not the school's role or desire to be Facetweetspace police however there has been a marked increase in the instances of conversations on social media sites negatively affecting the classroom environment at school. When this happens, a student's online behavior is subject to school policy. Policy 447 states "Behavior that becomes dangerous, disruptive distracting or destructive will not be tolerated." Rule 447A clearly states:
"Students who engage in conduct which endangers the property, health, or safety of others or disrupts the educational process and the classroom face disciplinary action, including possible removal from a classroom, suspension, and even expulsion. This applies to all activities on or off school property and while under or not under the supervision of a school authority. Refusal or neglect in obeying District rules may also result in disciplinary action including possible suspension or expulsion."
We may also receive complaints of behavior that does not meet the standard of "disrupting the educational process" but are of such a nature that will require our staff to fulfill the state mandated requirement to report instances of child endangerment to law enforcement. In such instances, these incidents will be reported to the appropriate outside agency for further investigation. Cyber bullying or harassment is very real, very dangerous and it is taken very seriously by your school district.
We need to work together as a community to address this problem. Board policy and law enforcement are not the solutions we need. Communication and education will be more effective. What is clearly missing is knowledge of on-line etiquette for social media interactions. We will begin to address this through our curriculum but that will take time. If you allow your child to have a social media account, please monitor their activity and take the time to discuss with them the permanent nature of anything they post in cyberspace. Discuss how easily it is to harm the reputation of another through a malicious post and how quickly they can destroy their own future by engaging in that type of on-line activity. We need your help with this and we thank you for your cooperation.
