New Social Media Policy for Teachers Approved

A new policy outlining the appropriate use of social media by school district employees was approved by the Board of Education Thursday.

The policy covers all social media sites and applications, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+.

Under the new policy, employees are prohibited from:

• Posting to sites during work hours, which include updating their Facebook status, unless it involves a school project. Employees would need approval from the Superintendent before posts could be made.
• Publishing information the state commissioner of education would deem inappropriate or that would be inappropriate to say in a classroom or professional workplace. This includes profanity and personal attacks.
• Improperly fraternizing with students.
• Posting any identifying student information, including names, videos, and photographs, without written permission from a student’s parent and the school’s principal first.

“Employees should exercise care in setting appropriate boundaries between their personal and public online behavior, understanding that what is private in the digital world often has the possibility of becoming public even without their knowledge or consent,” the policy states.

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