School board says no to social media engagement policy

After reviewing the proposed social media engagement policy a second time, the Newton school board decided on May 22 it would not adopt the rule. When board members looked over the policy earlier this month, some worried it would restrict their speech and may not be in their best interest to adopt such rules.

Several other policy updates were included in the second reading of the board policy review, including those about employee records regulation, credit and procurement cards, licensed employee contract release, nonresident students, transfer of funds, etc. The social media engagement policy was a brand new addition.

These aforementioned policy updates — except for the social media engagement policy — were approved in a unanimous vote.

Mark Thayer, a school board member who is on the board policy committee, made it clear he was in favor of letting the policy “die on the vine.”

At the May 8 meeting, Thayer voted against the first reading of the policy, saying there could be some ambiguity and that he did not see a need for it.

No school board member made a motion to approve the social media engagement policy after it was left out of the lumped in updates.

School board members enjoy rights to freedom of speech under both the U.S. and Iowa Constitutions, the policy stated, and as such the district “will not limit protected speech of any board members.” But the policy also goes on to say certain categories of speech are not protected and are subject to regulation.

According to the policy draft, board members have legal obligations to safeguard the privacy of information related to student and employee matters, and as such are refrained “from posting or communicating on social media in a way that violates the district’s obligation to protect the privacy” of those individuals.

Even in situations where school board members intend to correct information for the rest of the community in a response to a social media post or something similar, they cannot do so if it violates the privacy of students and employees. Board members are encouraged to direct concerns to appropriate district staff.

Protected speech can still subject board members to legal liability. If using social media to discuss district-related matters, for instance, board members should be aware they may be prohibited from blocking individual communications and posters based upon the content of their posts.