Border Middle School

Social Media Use Policy

Electronic social media (ESM) is defined as access and use of blogs, RSS feeds,
personal/classroom websites, posting on wikis and other interactive sites such as but not
limited to: Google+, Facebook, Blogger, Edublogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, VoiceThread, text
messaging, personal email accounts, and postings on video or picture sharing sites on
the Internet.
With the ubiquitous nature of communication technology, it is necessary to recognize
the impact it has on the educational environment. The use of electronic social media
can enhance, engage students and parents in the learning environment. The intent of
this policy is to provide the guidelines for use in both public and private
communications with students/parents/guardians/public. In accordance to the
Districts Use of Technology Resources in Instruction Electronic Information Services User
Agreement policy BMS will implement the following:
1. All users of electronic social media will comply with acceptable use guidelines:
a. Use ESM to support educational objectives consistent with the
educational goals and objectives of the school district.
b. Agree not to submit, publish, display, or retrieve any defamatory,
inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening,
racially offensive, negative affiliated gang, or illegal material.
c. Follow Digital Citizenship guidelines:
i. Do not reveal personal information such as home address, phone
numbers, or personally identifiable data.
ii. Do not upload/post images, videos, or recordings without the
express permission of the student(s) and their parents/guardians.
iii. Understand email is not private and may be read and monitored
by designated school employees.
iv. Do not engage in any activity that would interfere with the physical
and psychological wellbeing of another student or cause a
substantial disruption to the educational environment.
v. Abide by all copyright and trademark laws and regulations.
vi. Not use network connections for commercial purposes
d. Not attempt to harm, modify, add/ or destroy hardware or software, or
interfere with system monitoring or security.
e. Will not disrupt network services, including streaming non-educational
media.
f. Understand that inappropriate use may result in cancellation of permission
to use educational technology and disciplinary action my result up to and
including expulsion of students and termination of district employees.

2. District Employees
a. Communications and Staff use of ESM
i. Same principles of communication applied to in person exchanges
exist for electronic/online communication such as privacy and
professionalism. Regardless of medium of communication staff
members will adhere to teacher/student boundaries.
ii. Recognize as a staff member when using school related accounts
readers will assume you are representing the school and district.
iii. Staff members will use their own name/title for all school related
ESM account profiles.
iv. ESM relationships should consist of members of the educational
community, students and their parents, not personal contacts.
v. Staff members will use only there educational social media
accounts or emails to communicate with students and/or parents
and guardians and limit communications to educational matters.
vi. Staff members will not engage in personal electronic
communications with students. All ESM communications will go
through school accounts. All records of communications are
subject to review at the discretion of the district.
vii. Staff members will not initiate or accept electronic friends
requests from students unless the networking is part of an existing
school course, club structure, and at least one other staff member
has administrative access to the electronic social media group.
viii. In the event a staff member uses a personal account for
communications with students/parents/guardians, any such
communications are within the jurisdiction of the school district,
even if staff did not use district resources, and are subject to review
and handled in the same manner as other school communication
records or documents.
b. Take responsibility for assigned personal and district accounts including
password protection by taking all reasonable precautions, including
password maintenance, to prevent the use of personal and district
account and files by unauthorized persons.
c. All staff will follow procedures for records retention; this includes blog
entries with comments, text messages and other electronic
communications for any document created or received in regards to
ESM. These documents are subject to district and state retention, public
record, and privacy policies.
d. Recognize that any conduct of a staff member, whether online or not,
deemed inappropriate behavior by district standards may result in
disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.

e. Staff may be disciplined for posting or promoting electronic commentary,

content, or images that are defamatory, pornographic, proprietary,
harassing, or that create a negative work environment.
f. Classroom use of ESM
i. Use ESM in accordance with relevant standards and course
objectives to enhance learning.
ii. Monitor and supervise students use of ESM.
iii. Moderate student interactions on school or district maintained
accounts.
iv. Report any misuse of ESM to administration or system administrator
as appropriate
3. Student use of communication technology such as electronic social media and
personal electronic devices on campus is a privilege not right and as such
subject to policies and procedures established by the school and district.
a. Recognize that all ESM communications at school or school related
activity, whether using personal electronic device or school/district
equipment, is subject to school and district policies and procedures.
b. Be polite and use appropriate language in all ESM communications.
c. Do not send or encourage others to send abusive, profane, or otherwise
inappropriate messages
d. Respect privacy of others by not revealing personal information or posting
images or recordings of others without express permission of the students
and their parents/guardians.
e. Observe the following considerations:
i. Be brief.
ii. Strive to make messages clear and easy to understand by using
correct spelling and grammar.
iii. Use appropriate short and descriptive titles
iv. Post only to known groups or persons
f. Recognize that the principal has the authority to restrict the use of
personal electronic devices in school and inappropriate use of personal
electronic devices will result in the confiscation of the device and may
result in disciplinary action.
g. Use personal electronic devices as outlined by the school and district
policies and procedures.
h. Use personal electronic devices in a classroom only with express
permission of the teacher for educational purposes.
i. Not use any personal electronic devices for any reason during
assessments.

References:
Alberta. (2012). Digital citizenship policy development guide. Edmonton: Alberta Education,
School Technology Branch.
Baboquivari Unified School District. (n.d.). USE OF TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES IN INSTRUCTION
ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICES USER AGREEMENT(I-6431 IJNDB-E). Retrieved from
http://swmcdn.com/site_0324/BaboSD_IJNDBRUseTechResInstruction-082014.pdf
Calgary Catholic School District. (2012). Electronic Social Media (NEPN Code: GC). Retrieved
from https://cssd.ab.ca/files/regulations/GC.pdf
Livingstone Range School Division No. 68. (2013, June). Electronic Social Media. Retrieved from
http://www.lrsd.ca/documents/general/142%20Electronic%20Social%20Media.pdf
Melrose Public Schools. (n.d.). Electronic Communication and Social Media Use Policy.
Retrieved from http://melroseschools.com/faculty-and-staff/policies-faqs/social-mediause-policy/
Scope & Sequence | Common Sense Media. (2012). Retrieved from
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence
Willow Creek Composite High School. (2014, October 1). Student Owned Devices in School. The
Navigator [Claresholm, AB], p. 3.