Over the last couple years the school board has sat back and allowed the staff at our elementary schools to open school and classroom twitter and facebook accounts.  Some of these class accounts are for classes with children as young as 6 years old, and our experience is that the staff is not always asking the parents consent before doing so. Apparently social media and netwroking sites are now blanketed under the permission form at the start of the year where you sign to allow the school use of your children's photo on their board site and classroom blogs. These profiles are being set up available for viewing to the public instead of using private profiles. We are told by a public board staff member that this is being done to cut down the inconvenience of having to take a few moments every few days to approve followers. Pictures of the children are being posted, along with their upcoming whereabouts (field trip locations and dates, sports events, etc,) as well as when activities are that the school will be unlocked to the public. When our school started up social media accounts (in our case - without notifying parents prior to doing so and after the regular photo consent form was returned) we approached and asked that the profiles they opened be set as private instead of public. The request was refused, stating that the boards approves of their social media use and that if we have a concern with it to take it to the board. So we are, but we would appreciate your support. 

Our research online so far has found no record of a policy thru the Windsor-Essex public board regarding social media use by staff, tho we are told that one was recently drafted, and at this time our calls to the board requesting answers have been left unreturned. Nothing these pages intend to provide to parents will be lost by setting the profiles to private instead of public. The staff states that the intentions of the accounts to be to keep in touch better with parents from our schools, and to teach the children the benefits of social media. The board is organizing seminars on teaching our kids safe internet practices but are teaching them the opposite with their use of these accounts. Would you allow your eight year old to set up a public social media account, post photos of themselves, and post updates as to where they will be and when? If not, then why is okay for the teachers or principal to do so? Help keep our children safe. Let the school board know that the safety of our children should be a bigger concern than the inconvenience of privatizing their social media account.