UPDATE: Brick School Board Finalizing Social Media Policy

The Brick Township Board of Education is finalizing policies that will govern electronic communications between staff and students, the board president said.

Brick Township’s Board of Education spent two hours debating the issue Thursday, and the panel could vote on a final draft at its Oct. 23 meeting. Sharon Cantillo, the board president, said the district’s proposed policies are being reviewed by board attorney John Sahradnik to ensure they are legally sound.

The policy is in response to a law passed April 24 and signed by Gov. Chris Christie mandating that every school district in the state set policies on communications between staff and students “prevent improper communications between school employees and students made via e-mail, cellular phones, social networking websites, and other Internet-based social media.”

The law, S411, gave districts 120 days to come up with a policy, according to the text of the law. That 120 days runs out Saturday. An Aug. 19 letter from the state Department of Education, pointed out the requirement to school districts, saying those that hadn’t put a policy in placed needed to do so.

The law, first introduced as a bill in 2012, was prompted a number of incidents of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students where the prime means of communicating as through cell phones or social media. And while some districts in the state had enacted policies already, not all had.

“You know it was supposed to be done by Aug. 30?” resident Ray Fanelli said two months ago.

“We can’t do anything without legal advice,” Cantillo said. ” We’ve started the process.”

The board first discussed its policy proposal at its July 31 meeting and was set for a first reading, but several board members had questions about the policy, not given a first hearing.

“I am concerned that it is overly restrictive and interferes with the educational process,” board member Michael Conti said at the July meeting. The initial proposal was revamped and then presented at the Aug. 7 board meeting.

Some board members favor more of a hands-off approach, while Karyn Cusanelli, another board member, said having a stricter social media policy can protect teachers, too, according to Brick Shorebeat.