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Board weighs staff social-media and photo practices, opts for study not immediate policy change
Summary
At its Jan. 15 meeting the West Bath school board discussed whether staff use of social media and student photos should become a formal board goal; members favored research and a small subgroup to report back rather than drafting immediate new policy.
The West Bath Public Schools board debated whether to add staff social-media and student-photo practices to its formal goals during its Jan. 15 meeting, ultimately deciding to gather information before proposing policy changes.
Board member Joanne urged the board to “take a look at our policy on our, I guess, social media side of things,” saying she had read a book that raised concerns about social media’s effects on children and mental health. Joanne said she was not calling to ban photos but to “create more of an awareness” about how staff posting and adults’ phone use might influence students.
Superintendent Emily responded that students are not using phones in school buildings and described existing safeguards: annual parental permission forms, classroom-level lists that highlight which students may be photographed, and rules that prevent posting identifiable names with photos. Emily said staff use photos to document student learning and build portfolios and warned that eliminating photos could harm family engagement and evidence of student work: “I would feel really sad if we weren't taking pictures … there's a lot that we do here that should be documented.”
Several board members asked for factual study rather than an immediate policy change. Options discussed included book studies, expert presentations, workshops and a small ad hoc subgroup of board members working with Emily to research best practices and report back. The board noted the wellness committee will review wellness-policy links and emphasized parental opt-in remains in force.
No formal policy was adopted; the board directed a fact-finding approach and agreed to revisit the issue after the subgroup and staff report back. The wellness committee will also consider whether technology or student-photo practices should be folded into its three-year wellness-policy review.
