A proposed social media regulation at School District No.46 has come under scrutiny by some trustees who say it’s too vague and overreaching.
The draft regulation, presented at an April 8 regular board meeting, outlines rules around creating and operating social media accounts, professional conduct and privacy.
During the meeting, trustees Maria Hampvent and Amanda Amaral raised concerns it doesn’t adequately define to whom the rules would apply.
The regulation defines “user” as a student, school district staff, and/or community member.
Hampvent said the term “community member” needed to be defined more clearly “so it’s not vague,” suggesting it be narrowed to volunteers or anyone elected or appointed to represent SD46.
Amaral agreed the term was vague, but wanted it only to apply to students and school district employees, and not volunteers or trustees, especially since according to the regulation, those who break the rules could face punishment.
“What is the authority of the school district to discipline other community members? And then what is the authority of the school district to discipline the trustees, because we’ve already taken an oath about our behaviour,” said Amaral.
Other school districts don’t include “community members” or similar terms in their definitions, said Amaral, adding online behaviour rules for community members are better suited for the district’s volunteer regulations.
To deal with the concerns, trustees voted for the regulation to be brought back to a committee of the whole meeting for review.
This is not the first time the proposed regulation has been scrutinized.
At a Feb. 12 board meeting, an audience member called the regulation “incredibly far-reaching” and said it “seeks to control people’s use of communication in a very broad way,” in part because at that time the regulation had included text messaging in its definition of social media, and could imply private conversations would be regulated. One parent advisory committee had also expressed concerns about the draft.
At the April 9 board meeting, superintendent Patrick Bocking said changes had been made since those concerns were raised.
