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District 214 issues policy for staff use of social media

As many suburban school districts are looking at their use of technology and social media, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 has issued new procedures for staff outlining what are — and are not — acceptable methods of communication between teachers and students.

“It has become increasingly clear that more and more people, including our students, are using electronic forms of communication to interact with others,” said Venetia Miles, spokeswoman for the district.

Under the policy, whose details were promulgated Tuesday by district administration after a general review and approval earlier by the school board, employees are reminded to adhere to “appropriate school relationships” across social media including Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.

The test for appropriate communication is if it passes what the district is calling the TAP test; transparent, accessible and professional.

As a public school district, the policy explains that all communication must be transparent and accessible as a matter of record. And employees should remember that all communication should be written as a professional representing the district.

When it comes to Facebook, teachers can set up a “fan” page to communicate with their students, but must still follow district guidelines for publishing content or photos to the web. Teachers must be the only ones able to post to the fan page wall, making it a way to distribute information online, not a way to have a conversation with students. Parents should be notified if the teacher plans to use Facebook as a method of communication. Students cannot be required to check the page as not every student might be on Facebook.

The district also outlined reminders for employees using social media in their personal life that they should never “friend” or accept a friend request from students who are currently enrolled in the district.

“The wall between the role of a public educator and personal friendships with students should always be visible and strongly communicated,” reads the policy.

The superintendent of neighboring Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211, Nancy Robb, said it is not currently looking at putting a similar policy in place, while other districts, including District 128 in Lake County have recently set out policies on proper uses of social media.

Under the District 214 policy, acceptable communication modes include district email, school websites and Moodle because through these modes, all content is backed up and directly accessible. Moodle is an online learning tool used in many classrooms for discussions and online assessments.

Text messaging between teachers and students is considered a less acceptable method of communication because texts can be very personal and easily get off topic or be misunderstood, according to the policy. If a teacher, coach or group sponsor is planning to use texting for urgent contact with students, they must let the parents know about this at the beginning of the school year or season.

The policy also outlines unacceptable methods of communication which includes using nondistrict email accounts to contact students.

“As a district, we felt it was important to have a policy and procedures in place for staff that outline the professional standards and expectations for communicating electronically with students, as well as important reminders when using social media websites for personal purposes,” Miles said.

Use of personal technology, such as cellphones, should not interrupt classroom time and only be used during off hours and break time.

Employees are also reminded that anything they publish online should remain professional. They are advised to ask themselves if they would want the information they are about to post on the front page of the local newspaper.

“Contrary to what some people think, email and social networking sites are very public places,” reads the policy.