Head teacher's attempt to cracking down on social media use by parents

[TamaraHiddlestoned]

Does anyone have experience of a primary HT trying to limit parents' discussion of school standards & behaviour on social media?
Our HT wants to prevent any mention of the school or staff by any parent & in any context.
Aside from the impracticalities of this, and assuming that no laws are broken, does the HT actually have any power to do this?

Thanks for helping me to understand!

[BoneyBackJefferson]

Mistigri

I agree that there are ways to tackle this sort of thing, but some parents think that a school asking them to mind what they post (poorly worded) is the same as telling them what they can post.

[Mistigri]

There are also examples of parents/people posting on social media and destroying peoples lives. Some people see no difference between informing and cyber bullying.

Definitely, and this is a problem for many public sector organisations where employees are in contact with the public.

But there ways of tackling cyber bullying, harrassment and threats which do not impinge on the free speech of law-abiding parents.

[Badbadbunny]

Sadly, my son's otherwise excellent school is awful re communications and that does cause friction and results in a lot of wasted time that could have been avoided if they'd be more organised in the first place.

A classic example. A school trip. Paper letter sent home with the kids. Online version on their website. So far so good? Wrong! Two completely different letters with different pricing, different payment instructions, and even different dates! For the same trip! (Obviously one was just a copy & paste from the previous year and used without checking). We send the completed form with our cheque and hear no more. Then a few weeks later, the cheque is returned in the post, no letter, no explanation with "trip full" written on the back. Then a couple of months later, a really stroppy letter through the post saying that son had been removed from the trip because we hadn't paid the final balance and going on and on about non paying parents - a real Mr Angry letter! And then the teacher was surprised when we phoned him and gave him a few home truths!

Same with other things. So many events without us knowing about them that we may have been interested in, and yet we get a weekly newsletter that's self-congratulating about their latest rugby win or a teacher getting an award or whatever. Why on earth don't they use the newsletter for notices of events/activities?

So, no, you can't say schools are good with communications. Some may be, others are not. Because of their poor comms, it encourages parents to communicate with eachother to try to find out what's going on, and inevitably, that will lead to criticism.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

nooka

... but I'm not a school employee and they have no right to treat me as either an employee or a pupil.

Some people see any request by the school (however framed) as treating them in this way.

Mistigri

There are also examples of parents/people posting on social media and destroying peoples lives. Some people see no difference between informing and cyber bullying.

[Mistigri]

To many heads it would seem reasonable for to ask parents not to identify the school on social media at all, rather than try to develop a nuanced policy which would take a lot of time and effort to create and administrate.

If it seems reasonable then they are not thinking straight. Imposing rules that you can't enforce just makes you look heavy handed and (to parents with some grasp of the law and normal business practice) a bit thick.

There's also the "slippery slope" aspect - if schools believe they can ban any mention by parents, what next? The media? There are examples of badly run schools where social media campaigns by parents have been the trigger for press interest and subsequent, belated, action by the academy to put things right. This happened at a school near where my sister lives (Somerset side of Bristol) a couple of years ago.

[Iggi999]

Poptart you're missing out the quote Caiflower was replying to "and was firmly rebuked by two law professor parents".
I think the comment was spot on actually.

[Poptart27]

Fucking hell. Arrogant, up themselves parents who feel they can slag schools off while they "firmly rebuff" the person in charge. What a delight they sound. Why don't they stick their petty little gavels up theit arses.

You are a wonderful person, Cauliflower. Really, wonderful

[nooka]

I'm sure we'd all agree that no one should be treated with hostility.

However I'd also not want to be treated as if I was hostile without cause, and to me that's the risk of telling everyone they aren't to mention the school as it seems to assume that any parent who mentions the school will do so in a defamatory way.

My children's school district has an agreement that children have to sign about their use of social media (sanction of not signing is not being allowed to use the school network). It says nothing about parents and we've had no newsletters or other communication about how we should behave. I have had social media policies or equivalent at workplaces for ten years or so, and I'm fine with that (have helped write them in some cases) but I'm not a school employee and they have no right to treat me as either an employee or a pupil.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

AskBasil

Yes "there will always be loons and unreasonable people." these are the people that scream, shout and threaten teachers. They do so on the phone on social media and sometimes in person. Meanwhile the teacher has to maintain those professional standards, this makes them an easy target for some parents to get their jollies off.

No teacher is a "communications professional" nor would we claim to be, schools do not have the funds to spend on such a person. So yes, it is left a person with a bit of spare time.

Mistakes are made but this does not mean that teachers and schools should be treated to hostility online or anywhere else.

[FATEdestiny]

publically and publically privately.

[FATEdestiny]

...and schools are...

You both are making blanket statements about "schools" (generally) when what you mean is "the school(s) I have first hand experience of home-school communications"

Fact is, there is massive disparity between one school and another. So you could both be right.

I am a parent and a governor at both my local primary school and my local secondary academy (and I'm a teach myself, but a SAHM currently).

I can tell you with certainly that one school has a scatty Head with poor organisation skills (but is lovely and great at her job). Home-school comms are woeful, often last minute and regular mistakes. Constructive feedback us actively discouraged. Head makes attempt to stop all gossip relating to the school for fear it reflects badly.

The other Head is highly effective, highly organised, productive. Home-school comms are planned, business like, effective and professional. Constructive Feedback is encouraged and engaged with publically and publically.

Two schools I have every day contact with. Two very, very different attitudes towards communication.

[wtffgs]

I'm in Team Cauliflower!

If you have concerns, then governors and then Ofsted are your routes for complaint if you can find your way back down your own backsides that is.

[smallfox2002]

"Oh dear, you really don't know what I'm talking about do you. It's not the channels of communication, it's what you say and how you say it. "

You think schools manage to coordinate hundreds if not over a thousand people to follow the same rules, do the same things on the sames days, with different messages being sent out to many sub groups within the entire population without being effective in how they communicate?

There will always be people that miss what the point is, but communication is two way and schools are overwhelmingly effective at it.

[AskBasil]

"It is a very difficult thing, but in reality schools don't have the time, or the resources to be monitoring social media like some corporations do, or spending time responding to things/having things taken down. "

Yes, I'm aware of that and have some sympathy with it. But I think it depends what relationship you want with the majority of parents, how you consider communicating with them.

"To many heads it would seem reasonable for to ask parents not to identify the school on social media at all, rather than try to develop a nuanced policy which would take a lot of time and effort to create and administrate"

Yes, but that's where these heads are ineffective, because that request just comes across as control-freakery madness - IE terrible communication.

It's like everything, sometimes a bit of time and effort invested into something you don't think you've got enough time to do, saves an awful lot of trouble later on down the line. But everyone's fire-fighting so doesn't have time to do that reflective stuff which they know in the long run would benefit them.

Anyway I really am going to go and watch Poldark now, good night

[AskBasil]

"Agree Lulu, if the website, emails, twitter, texts letters etc aren't enough communication for posters like basil nothing will be."

Oh dear, you really don't know what I'm talking about do you. It's not the channels of communication, it's what you say and how you say it.

It doesn't matter how many means of communication you use, if what you are saying is ineffective.

Anyway I need to catch up with last night's episode of Poldark so will bid you good night.

[smallfox2002]

I think I was rathered riled by your accusation that it is schools poor communication for the reasons why some parents are in the dark about things, more an accusation labelled at the profession.

It is a very difficult thing, but in reality schools don't have the time, or the resources to be monitoring social media like some corporations do, or spending time responding to things/having things taken down.

To many heads it would seem reasonable for to ask parents not to identify the school on social media at all, rather than try to develop a nuanced policy which would take a lot of time and effort to create and administrate.

The private FB groups mentioned repeatedly on this thread would be a great way for parents to go about dealing with the situation.

[AskBasil]

What accusations are you referring to, smallfox, I don't recall making any accusations.

The thing is, BoneyBack, there will always be loons and unreasonable people. You can either decide that you'll pitch your tone of voice at them, or at the majority of reasonable people.

I can understand why schools opt for the former, in the same way that sometimes they have no choice but to give the most disruptive pupils in the class the most attention.

I think schools are in an unenviable position of having to pretend that they have a partnership with parents while at the same time knowing that they have no such thing. Even experienced communications professionals would fluff that brief. I don't know what the solution is really, I just know that they're not going to make their lives easier by putting their head in the sand about the reality of social media. Anymore than parents can; I'd love to ban my kids from using social media, but I know that's not an option in the modern world, more's the pity. I just have to learn to navigate it and hope I can help them to navigate it so that they control their usage of it rather than having it control them. We all have to do that, there's no way round it.

[smallfox2002]

Agree Lulu, if the website, emails, twitter, texts letters etc aren't enough communication for posters like basil nothing will be.

[LuluJakey1]

The school I left last Christmas posts everything on Facebook, Twitter, their website, sends parents texts, posts info home, staff ring home (numbers usually out of date) and still parents deny ever receiving it.

BoneyJefferson has said it all. These parents are feckless and need to take responsibility for their actions and lack of support for their child at school. They never turn up to parent evenings, respnd to letters, support the school. They argue over any little thing.

[smallfox2002]

Oh and your accusations weren't a good example of name calling?

Schools are mostly quite good at communication, with a few errors being made here and there as often happens when you are trying to get messages to a mass of people.

As a previous poster pointed out, many parents are wilful in their ignorance, ignore emails, or fail to tell of changes of work place, phone numbers, don't attend meetings etc.

Schools are usually quite good at communication, or else why do they manage to coordinate the vast majority of students to do the same thing at the same time.

You have a chip on your shoulder, HTH yourself.

[AskBasil]

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise that having websites, sending out emails to the adresses we were given on enrolment, and then giving the children paper copies of the same communiques wasn't enough."

Of course you don't. That's my point. Schools aren't very good at communication, they never really had to be until quite recently and it's a very steep learning curve.

"From the rest of your post, I'd say that it'll take a lot more than good communication from a school to cure your own ignorance"

That's not really engaging with my argument, is it, it's just name-calling. That's another example of poor communication. HTH.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

EllyMayClampett

Believe it or not, schools invest a huge amount of time and effort in preventing children bullying/defaming each other.

[Haggisfish]

I agree-our school spends a large amount of time tackling online bullying.

[smallfox2002]

"I hope HTs put as much effort into stopping teenage children from defaming/bullying each other on social media as they do protecting their schools and staff"

You should see the amount of trouble things posted on social media cause, and how much time goes into dealing with them.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

AskBasil

Perhaps if most schools were better at communication, parents wouldn't be ignorant and ill-informed.

Some parents are wilfully ignorant and ill-informed by choice.

Some parents you can never get hold of on any of their phone numbers or email addresses.

Some parents have never attended an open evening, parents evening or meeting arranged by the teachers or other pastoral staff members .

Some parents refuse to discuss anything or believe that their children are capable of doing wrong, and the school (and teachers) just like all the others and are picking on/bullying their child.

Some parents ring up after their child has done badly in their GCSEs and blame the school because the child has done no work for five years, disrupted lessons and didn't revise.

These are the ones that post the comments on fb, forums and go to papers and try to put the school in to a bad light.

Not all schools are perfect, but education is a two way street and parents need to communicate with the school as well.[