Rialto Unified board hears legal guidance on officials’ social media use
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Summary
At a March 28 special meeting, the Rialto Unified School District board received guidance from district counsel on AB 992 and the U.S. Supreme Court decision O’Connor v. Garnier, including when a personal account can be treated as a public forum and recommended disclaimers; the board then entered closed session on labor negotiations.
Rialto Unified School District Board of Education members on March 28 heard legal guidance on how the Brown Act, California legislation and a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision affect school‑board members’ social‑media use.
Marie, an attorney with Fagan, Friedman and Bullfrog, told the board that AB 992 allows individual board members to use social media to answer questions, provide information and solicit comments from the public on matters within the board’s jurisdiction, but warned members to "exercise extreme caution" when posting or interacting online about district business.
The presentation emphasized a restriction: "a majority of the board cannot use social media to discuss amongst themselves business or items in their jurisdiction," Marie said, adding that interacting with another member’s post (liking, commenting, resharing or reacting with emojis) on district matters risks creating an impermissible group discussion.
Marie summarized the U.S. Supreme Court decision in O'Connor v. Garnier, which applies a two‑part test to determine when a public official’s social‑media activity constitutes state action. Under that test, an account is treated as a public forum — limiting the official’s ability to block or remove commenters — only when the official both has actual authority to speak for the agency and purports to exercise that authority on the platform.
To reduce the risk that a personal account will be considered an official forum, Marie recommended using a clear bio statement such as: "This is the private social media account of insert your name. The views expressed are strictly my own. This is not an official account of the Rialto Unified School District, and I do not speak for the RUSD governing board or RUSD through this account." She also advised minimizing "mixed use" content that combines personal posts with district business.
Board members asked several hypotheticals during a question‑and‑answer period. Marie said two board members who independently post similar views at the same time generally are not engaged in a prohibited discussion so long as they do not interact with one another’s district‑business posts. She also said a single congratulatory personal post praising a colleague would not by itself convert a personal account into a public forum, but urged caution about repeated or mixed posts on district matters.
After the presentation the board voted to move into closed session to confer with labor negotiators; the closed‑session agenda named Superintendent Alejandra Ab Alvarez and Denise Ellis, associate superintendent of human resources, as the district’s designated representatives and listed the Rialto Education Association as the employee organization. The board returned to open session at 10:24 a.m. and adjourned.
The board did not announce any formal action taken in closed session during the public report out.
(Reporting from the Rialto Unified School District special board meeting, March 28, 2026.)
