School District Likely to Adopt Social Media Plan

It's 2011. Facebook, Twitter and smart phones are a part of daily life and the Murrieta Valley Unified School District has decided to embrace, rather than rebuke, those social media outlets.

"This is kind of a new frontier of school districts trying to regulate this," said Trustee Kris Thomasian during Thursday evening's school board meeting.

The trustees listened intently as District Spokeswoman Karen Parris went over the first reading of the proposed board policy regarding the district's social media use.

The policy, the first of its kind for the district, addresses all district-sponsored and district-related social media, from specific sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook to blogs and Twitter.

"While the use of social media offers a number of benefits, it also poses a new set of
challenges," the policy reads. "In order to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative consequences of improper use of social media, it is essential to adopt policies and procedures to guide the use of district-sponsored social media in order to ensure the appropriate and responsible use of these tools and resources and compliance with law, board policies and procedures."

During her presentation, Parris, who handles all district community and media relations, explained that the policy establishes a set of rules and guidelines that are needed in this current climate that finds social media a daily reality.

Parris already deals with the reality of social media. When she takes photos of students, she must attain parental approval before posting anything. But rarely is she met with any resistance.

She said "99.9 percent of the time," parents are happy to have a cute photo of their child on one of the school district's sites.

Parris already hosts a Twitter account for the district, posting updates on everything from high school sports victories and school play information to links from local newspapers. The district already has 275 followers and receives about 25 new followers every week, Parris said.

Parris has expressed her desire to also set up a district Facebook page. Since the California School Boards Association doesn't have a social media policy in place, Parris began working in the fall with the district's legal staff to build one.

The policy, which will be followed by both staff and students alike, is very specific. It covers common sense issues, such as not publishing student's phone numbers and addresses on district websites without permission and not posting obscenites. 

But it also establishes the distinction between the somewhat confusing idea of district-sponsored and district-related websites. For example, a teacher may have her own Facebook page wherein she posts homework assignments and other information or a coach might post game information on his Twitter account.

Those sites would be district-related but not district-sponsored, according to the policy. A district-sponsored site example is the Murrieta Valley Unified School District website.

The board is set to approve the second reading of the new policy at its May 10 meeting.

In other district news, the board unanimously approved a partial contract and tentative agreement with the Murrieta Teachers Association. The agreement translates to what the district claims amounts to a 5.28 percent reduction in the teacher's salary schedule for the 2011-2012 school year. The agreement will save the district about $4.17 million in the 2010-2011 fiscal year, according to a staff report.

Before the board approved the contract, Superintendent Stan Scheer applauded both the district's educators and the California School Employees Association, which includes non-teacher employees, such as janitors, bus drivers and food service workers, which also agreed to reductions.

"As you know both groups are taking significant pay cuts," he said. "Quite honestly I'm privileged to be in a district where employees are willing to make a sacrifice.. and still maintain what our focus is all about, which is to educate students."