Social Media Rules
The Board of Education of Charles County encourages the use of all available media of communications to keep the goals, programs, achievements and needs of the schools before the public, and to keep the public informed of publicly held meetings of the Board. The Board also recognizes that social media is beneficial for community engagement.
The Board defines social media as any on-line technologies where people share information, opinions, experiences and perspectives. Examples include, but are not limited to, the school system’s Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram platforms. These platforms are intended to create a limited public forum where members of the community can learn about and participate in discussions about any item posted by the school system, or any school system-related topic.
Constructive public conversations are encouraged within comments, messages, retweets, and other user communications (“public comments”). The school system retains the right to review public comments on all its social media platforms and, although the school system does not discriminate based on viewpoint, it may remove public comments and restrict access to users for violating these guidelines.
Public comments may be removed or blocked by the Superintendent of Charles County Public Schools, the school system’s Director of Communications, or designee if the public comments contain, constitute, or link to:
- Malicious or harmful software;
- Advertisements, promotions, or solicitations of a commercial product or service;
- Confidential, personally identifying, or private information;
- Personnel matters concerning individual employees;
- Profanity, nudity, indecency, or obscenity;
- Targeting of individuals or groups protected by the Board’s nondiscrimination policy;
- Threats of violence or to public safety;
- Criminal or illegal activity or behavior;
- Copyrighted materials;
- Disruptively repetitive content;
- Pending appeals filed with the school system;
- Matters that are unrelated to the school system or any posting by the school system.
The Superintendent, Director of Communications, or designee may temporarily or permanently restrict access to individuals who repeatedly violate these guidelines. To contest the restriction of access to a social-media platform, the user must submit to the Office of Communications at smackey@ccboe.com a written statement providing grounds for reinstatement. Requests shall be responded to on a reasonably timely basis, and access shall be restored if it is determined that the grounds for reinstatement are sufficient.
Individuals may contact the Office of Communications at smackey@ccboe.com at any time to identify public comments or other conduct in violation of these guidelines.
The school system monitors its social media platforms but is not responsible for content generated by users on these platforms. The school system retains the authority to entirely turn off the public’s ability to post any public comments at any time. A public comment is the opinion of the commentator only. Publication of a public comment does not necessarily imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the Board or the school system. Public comments and content should be understood to be entirely public, and users should not post any public comments that they consider, or would like to keep, confidential. Public comments shall not constitute legal notification of the school system.
