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Policy committee reviews social‑media rules after platform changes; debate over comments, filters and AR visibility
Summary
Administrators and trustees discussed social‑media policy language and administrative regulations after Facebook removed certain comment‑control options; the committee debated whether to keep comments disabled, what content filters to use and whether to publish ARs on the public website.
The policy committee reviewed proposed edits to the district’s social‑media policy after administrators reported limitations imposed by Facebook and asked trustees how the district should manage comments and the public availability of administrative regulations (ARs).
Dr. Hoffman explained the district’s practice and described how Facebook and third‑party posting tools have changed. She said administrators had previously set pages to disable commenting but that Facebook’s current interface removes a blanket, page‑level off switch; staff said comments can now only be disabled on individual posts and that moderation currently involves a mix of automatic filters and manual review.
Missy Hartney, the district’s director of communications, was identified as the staff member who monitors posts and filters content; she notifies administrators when problematic comments appear so they can be removed or hidden. Dr. Hoffman told trustees the most common issues are misinformation and unrelated hateful comments that are inappropriate for school pages, particularly because many students follow them.
Trustees debated two positions. Some members urged permitting comments to encourage two‑way community engagement; one board member said, “social media is designed to be a 2 way communication tool.” Other trustees argued that most district posts are informational (event notices, achievements) and that comments add little value while increasing the district’s moderation burden; they recommended keeping comments off and noted legal counsel had previously classified district pages as nonpublic forums in policy language.
The committee also discussed ARs. Administrators said some districts are removing detailed ARs from public websites on legal advice because ARs sometimes disclose operational procedures for sensitive scenarios; the committee discussed whether to keep ARs public, to post a subset, or to make ARs available only to trustees and administrators. Trustees said they wanted more information before deciding whether to remove ARs from the public site.
Finally, trustees asked staff to audit district‑run social accounts (including school and activity pages) and to propose a uniform approach to comment moderation, filters and training for staff who manage accounts. The committee did not vote on a policy change and deferred further edits to a subsequent meeting with additional information.
