Swampscott school board OKs social networking policy

SWAMPSCOTT – The school committee Wednesday approved a social networking policy urging teachers and staff to establish special educational – rather than using personal – email and social media accounts if they wish to communicate with students, parents and administrators via such electronic media.”The Swampscott Public Schools recognizes the proliferation and, in some instances, usefulness, of online conversations between teachers and students,” the policy reads. “However, due to the nature of social networking sites, there exists a risk, without care and planning, that the lines between one’s professional life and personal life will be blurred.”The policy focuses only on expectations for staff – not students – in using electronic media and focuses mainly on reminding staff that other methods of communications such as office phones and school email address are preferred. However, school committee members at their Oct. 5 meeting when the policy was first presented, noted that social networking was already prevalent in the district – and not just by students. School Committee member Marianne Hartmann noted that Facebook sites had been beneficial to parent groups in organizing and publicizing events.The resulting document stresses, however, that all communication should reflect appropriate teacher/student boundaries.”You are a role model, not a student’s friend,” the policy states. “You are his/her teacher, and you should always conduct yourself in accordance with this understanding.”Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].