Media

• Sanctioned organizations are encouraged to make efforts to document their activities through photo and video documentation

  • • While SPS has permission to release photos of students for school use and promotion, (unless it is requested by parents that their child not be photographed/recorded), sanctioned organizations are separate entities. A media release form for sanctioned organizations is available for your convenience.

    • All photos, video, and broadcasts must comply with board policies and any applicable laws, such as copyright, or agreements SPS, the Athletic Department, or OSSAA may have entered into.

    • Use of broadcast equipment/streams may incur a cost to the district, or violate broadcast agreements. Please check with appropriate administrators before initiating any broadcast or stream.

At Stillwater Public Schools, we understand that social media can be a fun and rewarding way to share your organizations activities with family, friends and co-workers around the world. However, use of social media also presents certain risks and carries with it certain responsibilities. In order to assist our sanctioned organizations, we have established these guidelines for social media.

• Any new accounts created require the approval of the SPS PR & Communications Coordinator

• Accounts presenting as an SPS team or extracurricular activity

  • Account must have:

    • At least one coach or activity sponsor employed by the district

and

• • • At least one administrative staff member from the department/school

or

• • • the SPS PR & Communications Coordinator

as an administrator/login credential holder.

• • Only one account per platform per team/activity (Treat all levels of a sport as one. There should not be separate accounts for Varsity, Junior Varsity, Junior High, Middle School, etc.)

  • Any new accounts created require the approval of the SPS PR & Communications Coordinator

  • The SPS staff member account holders shall inform anyone managing social media accounts of expectations, agreements, policies, and laws regarding sharing of photos, video, and streams.

• Accounts presenting as an Sanctioned Organization

• To facilitate accurate communication, login credential holder's names and contact information should be provided to the district via the activity coach/sponsor and at least one administrative staff member from the department/school

• To prevent confusion in audiences, accounts must be clearly designated as the sanctioned organization, not as the activity being supported.

  • By Name

    • • 1. • • Examples of Appropriate Account Names

               1. Stillwater WhateverBall Boosters

               2. Pioneer ThataBall Supporters

             • Examples of Inappropriate Account Names

               1. Stillwater WhateverBall

               2. Pioneer ThataBall

  • By a disclaimer in the account About or Bio section.

    • • 1. • • For Twitter, Instagram, or other accounts with limited length bios should contain the following as appropriate: "A Booster/PTA/PTO account - views & opinions expressed are our own."

             • For Facebook, Organization Websites (preferably in a footer on every page), and other unlimited length profiles should include: "This page/group is managed by the -Full Name of Organization- The views & opinions expressed are our own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Stillwater Public Schools."

• Only one account per platform per activity (Treat all levels of a sport as one. There should not be separate accounts for Varsity, Junior Varsity, Junior High, Middle School, etc.)

• The SPS staff member account holders shall inform anyone managing social media accounts of expectations, agreements, policies, and laws regarding sharing of photos, video, and streams.

Any employee who wishes to create a social media account to be utilized with operations of the school district, a classroom activity, or an extracurricular club or group associated with the school district shall comply with all District policies and state laws on the use of district-owned hardware, software and networks apply, as relevant, to the use of social media for a school, class or program.

Initially, the employee shall notify the Superintendent or Building Principal Public Relations & Communications Coordinator of a request to establish a social media site for a school, class or program. Employees shall be prohibited from using a personal Facebook page or personal social media account for school-related purposes. All social media accounts created shall have expectations for acceptable use listed on the social media site that are compliant with the District’s Stillwater Public Schools’ expectations for acceptable use.

Accounts created shall not include posts that advocate for or against a political candidate or ballot initiative.

Employees and students shall refrain from posting or otherwise publishing images that include students that have requested, through the Public Relations & Communications Coordinator, their image not be shared without parental release forms on file for the specific social media site that was created.

The site’s security settings should allow only approved participants access to the site. A building administrator or the Public Relations & Communications Coordinator must be approved as an administrator participant for supervisory purposes.

All school policies regarding appropriate behavior in school or the classroom should be applied online. Students shall be disciplined for inappropriate posts or uploads which would violate district disciplinary policies.

Prior to use of the school district’s logo or school-specific logos or mascots approval is required from the Superintendent or Public Relations & Communications Coordinator.

At Stillwater Public Schools, we understand that social media can be a fun and rewarding way to share your life and opinions with family, friends and co-workers around the world. However, use of social media also presents certain risks and carries with it certain responsibilities. In order to assist employees in making responsible decisions, we have established these guidelines for appropriate use of social media.

General Guidelines

Consult Stillwater Public Schools District policy on Internet safety and appropriate use (Stillwater Public Schools District Policy EFBCA), as well as the employee handbook. Be aware that all existing policies and behavior guidelines extend to school-related activities in the online environment as well as on school premises.

Use good judgment. Think about the type of image being conveyed on behalf of the district when you are posting to social networks and social media sites. Remember that what is posted will be viewed and permanently archived. Social media websites and blogs are not private. Internet search engines can find information years after it was originally posted. Comments can be forwarded or copied, and archival systems save information even if a post is deleted.

The district considers an employee’s use of any electronic media for the purpose of communicating with a student or a parent to be an extension of the employee’s workplace responsibilities. Accordingly, the board expects school personnel to use professional judgment and appropriate decorum when using any social media in this fashion. School district administrators may require an employee to provide access to any websites used by him or her for communication with students or parents and to produce copies of any electronic communication with students or parents, including text messages, web page posts, etc. This policy does not authorize an administrator to inspect an employee’s personal devices without the employee’s express consent.

For the protection of both students and staff, whenever feasible, student contacts should be made with district-sponsored software (such as @stillwaterschools.com email and teacher websites), which provide both administrators and parents/guardians with access to the messages. For software not provided by the district (such as texting, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), employees should, whenever feasible, enable and preserve electronic communication records for a minimum of 60 days.

Social Networking Websites

Personnel shall abide by the following requirements regarding use of social networking websites, even when done in their personal time, using personal property. These provisions do NOT apply to former students who have graduated from high school NOR to students who are also the teacher’s relative in the first or second degree (e.g. son, daughter, niece, nephew).

1. Fraternization with students using social networking websites on the Internet:

a. Inappropriate contact with students or parents via e-mail, phone, or other devices is prohibited;

b. School personnel must exercise caution regarding social media contacts with students. A staff member who is “friends” with a student in such contexts is responsible for all of the information accessible to the student via the social media service. If a staff member allows any current students in the district to be their “friend” or form a similar connection, the staff members may not post items or send messages with sexual content, nor may they post items or send messages exhibiting or advocating the use of drugs or alcohol. This restriction is not intended to interfere with appropriate professional contacts or counseling, such as professional contacts and counseling between a student and a staff member who is also a youth minister, scout leader, appropriate commercial transactions, etc.

c. School personnel and sponsors should use, and direct students to use, the school e-mail system or other school-sponsored software for contacts whenever feasible, rather than personal emails or messaging services on a social networking site; voice telephone contacts should use the school’s telephone system whenever feasible;

d. Student/teacher contacts via e-mail, phone, or other devices should be limited to school-related or other professional business (e.g. assistance with homework, logistics of school-sponsored extracurricular events, appropriate contacts between a youth minister and a student, appropriate contacts with a student who is a babysitter or lawn care worker); staff shall not send messages that are personal in nature and not related to the business of the school or other community organization or that contain confidential information to persons not authorized to receive that information.

e. Before using social media, school personnel and sponsors should be aware of current educational technology best practices and appropriate privacy settings to ensure that information about students is private and not accessible, especially by personal friends of the employee/sponsor.

2. School district personnel and sponsors may not post items on social networking websites with sexual content if they are identifying themselves as an employee of the district;

3. Employees may not post items exhibiting or advocating use of drugs or alcohol if they are identifying themselves as an employee of the district;

4. Employees may not post pictures, video, or audio of students participating in school sponsored activities if the student’s parent (if the student is under 18) or the student (if the student is 18 or over) has requested to opt out of media release.

Note that when using a school district e-mail address or equipment to participate in any social media or professional social networking activity, the communications are public records, and employees are responsible for the content in the communications.

As per state law, employees are discouraged from sharing content or comments containing the following when directed at a citizen of the State of Oklahoma:

1. Obscene sexual content or links to obscene sexual content;

2. Abusive behavior and bullying language or tone;

3. Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity; and

4. Disclosure of any information required to be maintained as confidential by law, regulation, or internal policy.

“Social networking” or “social media” means interaction with external websites or services based upon participant contributions to the content. Types of social media include social and professional networks, blogs, micro blogs, video or phone sharing and social bookmarking; and

“Comment” means a response to an article or social media content submitted by a commenter.

Text and Instant Messaging

District personnel shall not text or instant message any student individually unless the staff member is using a district-sponsored communication service for instructional purposes, which provides both administrators and parents/guardians with full access to the messages, or the staff member is an activity sponsor contacting students about the logistics of the activity. Staff shall not send messages that are personal in nature and not related to the business of the school or that contain confidential information to persons not authorized to receive that information. These restrictions do not apply to students who are the staff member’s relative in the first or second degree and are not meant to restrict appropriate and professional contacts made in the context of community organizations such as youth ministries, scout troops, community outreach groups, etc., and are not meant to restrict appropriate contacts with a student who is a babysitter or lawn care worker, etc.

1. The Superintendent shall designate those staff persons who have management or administrator access to the district’s social media, including, but not limited to the ability to remove content from the school’s social media if determined to be inappropriate. Only content that is allowable on the school’s website is allowable on the school’s social media pages unless otherwise authorized by the superintendent.

2. Staff should not be accessing or using social media during the contract day unless it is work-related.

Penalties

District personnel face the possibility of penalties, including employee termination, for failing to abide by district policies when accessing and using social media. Any inappropriate, harassing, intimidating, threatening or bullying to an employee of the district, regardless of whether the activity uses district equipment or occurs during school/work hours, is strictly forbidden and may lead to disciplinary action.

REFERENCE: EFBCA Policy; FL-R Policy