FILE: BBBAA
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
As active users of social media, including online platforms as well as other media such as blogs and personal web sites, Iberville Parish School Board members should operate within appropriate guidelines when communicating online about School Board and School District business. The School Board Member Use of Social Media policy should serve as guidelines for School Board members’ use of social media.
When posting on social media, a School Board member shall clarify that he/she is speaking as an individual School Board member and not as an official School Board spokesperson.
School Board members shall refrain from deliberating School Board business online. A School Board member shall not post statements that make it appear that he/she has already formed an opinion on matters pending School Board approval. School Board members should enter a debate at meetings with open minds.
Direct complaints or concerns should not be presented online. Instead, they should be presented to the appropriate administrator for investigation. The School Board operates as a body, which means no single School Board member may act alone. In most cases, an appropriate administrator and not the School Board is responsible for handling a community member’s concern. This preserves the chain of command of the School Board.
School Board members shall post only content that the School Board has already released to the public. Information considered confidential by law shall not be disclosed by School Board members. In light of the sensitivity of many School Board matters and the risk of inadvertent disclosure of confidential materials, School Board members should limit the use of social media to sharing content already released to the public by the School District.
When a School Board member is posting through the use of School Board issued devices, or using School District Internet access on a personal device, he/she shall be aware of and comply with the School Board’s acceptable use policy.
School Board members should always conduct themselves online in a manner that reflects well of the School Board and the School District and shall avoid posting information that has not been verified and made public by the School Board. If a School Board member repeats a false rumor or “half-truth” online, the School Board member’s repetition of unverified information may constitute defamation if the statement results in harm to another person.
There is nothing in law or policy that prohibits a School Board member from publicly describing the discussion or action that took place during the open portions of a previous School Board meeting. However, the Iberville Parish School Board policy BBBA, Duties of Board Members, provides that each School Board member shall accept the will of the majority vote in all cases and give wholehearted support to the resulting policy.
New policy: May 5, 2016
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:81
Board minutes, 5-9-16
Iberville Parish School Board