Richmond area school systems are reviewing ways to add guidelines for social media to their policies manuals, according to the Associated Press.
Communicating via Facebook status updates and Twitter feeds is as common today as email was a generation ago, but none of the Richmond area’s four largest school systems has a specific policy outlining how their teachers should interact with students through social media.
All four say they are reviewing ways to add such guidelines to their policy manuals or are using existing employee ethics policies to control social media activity.
But even without guidelines, officials from school districts in Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties and the city of Richmond say they find ways to stress to their teachers the importance of maintaining professional decorum, both in school-related communication and in their personal lives online.
“You can’t say it enough: Once you put something out there, it’s there,” said Henrico School Board Chairman Lamont Bagby, an active social-networker. “It’s not going anywhere. It’s going to be found.”
Richmond school system spokeswoman Felicia Cosby said the topic of appropriate social media interaction between teachers and students would come up in the usual round of back-to-school seminars and training sessions.
“It’s something you have to be concerned about,” she said. “It’s something we want our staff to be aware of.”
On the state level, the Virginia Board of Education has offered social-media guidance, but specific policy is the responsibility of individual districts.
In March, the board adopted a guidance document for local systems to use to prevent sexual misconduct and abuse in public schools, including a section on electronic communications between school employees and students.
The document acknowledges that digital technology and social networking provide multiple means for educators and other School Board employees to communicate with students and personalize learning.
However, it also says, “local policies should ensure that electronic and online communications between employees, volunteers and individual students are transparent, accessible to supervisors and parents, and professional in content and tone.”
The state also advises that educators and volunteers should avoid the appearance of impropriety and refrain from inappropriate electronic communications with students.
Charles B. Pyle, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, said the state board’s guidance places the emphasis on prevention.
“You cannot prevent misconduct unless you have policies in place that set the parameters for how employees and minors interact either in person or digitally,” Pyle said.
Mychael Dickerson, spokesman for the Henrico school system, said the county is looking at ways to “discourage any contact that’s not instructionally based.”
Linda Scarborough, communications specialist for the Hanover school system, said its human-resources department is developing a policy for staff members’ use of social media.
Chesterfield school system spokesman Shawn Smith said the county isn’t writing social media-specific language because its existing ethics policy covered the topic.
In recent years, school districts have created Facebook pages that have grown increasingly popular.
