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!

[smallfox2002]

"Schools do not have the authority to control parents and should be more careful in how they approach this sort of thing."

No but schools and teachers do have the right not to be defamed or libelled in any way. Which I imagine this was aimed at dealing with. All you need to do is to look at some of the ridiculous threads on here with parents ranting about schools and see that if there had been a specific name given then this could indeed be considered to be libellous or defamatory.

"Most parents do not enjoy or respond well to being treated like children"

Then they shouldn't be posting silly stuff on the internet then should they.

Remember the OP post said: "HT trying to limit parents' discussion of school standards & behaviour on social media?"

Which would indicate that the school had fears about libel which would damage their reputation. Its why I don't think that there were two law profs in the room, libel is what is being indicated here and putting anything on social media counts as publication.

[ZigZagIntoTheBlue]

My son's school has stated in the agreement we sign that they prefer grievances to be aired with the school directly and they will not accept negative comments on social media. However we do have a school Facebook group (about 3 or 4 actually) and they are really useful though I feel sorry for the poor IT teacher who staffs it as she's now effectively on call evenings and weekends having to vet every post!

[Mistigri]

Smallfox, why do you think that a discussion of behaviour and school standards would necessarily be libellous? For a start, for any comments to be libellous they would have to name individuals, and also be untrue.

[nooka]

The OP (not the person who mentioned law professors) said their head wants to prevent "any mention of the school or staff by any parent & in any context"

That's way beyond addressing specific issues of libel or defamation which should be picked up with the individuals concerned.

I have never used social media to have a go at anyone or any organisation. If a primary school head had lectured me about doing so I would have been very irritated indeed. In my experience some school SMTs do overreach, and treating groups of parents like school children is not conducive to building a good relationship. Sure parents are not really customers, but they still should be treated with some degree of respect. Lawyers can be a very prickly bunch, and they are just as likely to be parents as anyone else. I don't see why you think this situation is so unlikely.

[smallfox2002]

Well, any discussion which identifies the school has the risk of libel doesn't it, if you look at lots of the threads on here the OPs and others would be guilty of libel if the schools were named.

Parents are also often reporting one side of the situation, with information reported to them by a child which makes it far more likely that they are likely to be inaccurate/untrue.

[Luluandizzy]

I don't know if the HT has the legal power to do this but i would be happy to oblige, it's completely understandable He/she wants to protect the school and its staff. Social media can be a dangerous thing x

[mrz]

There's a lot been said about defamation but the other act being used in these cases is the Malicious Communications Act

[smallfox2002]

Its a bit clumsy trying to ban all mention of the school on social media but I can see what the intention is. I'd rather the school concentrated on education rather than having to try and stop its self being libelled on a regular basis.

[stressedinsurrey]

I had the same argument with the Head at my children's old school which failed my children badly and was deemed that way by Ofsted. She said we were legally not allowed to mention the school on Facebook. I told her it was rubbish. Then myself and a friend were reported to the LA who sent us letters telling us to remove a post where I made a jokey comment about the school, which was in fact joking about the negative parents (not specific individuals), not the school itself! I would never complain about individuals on Facebook and am very careful not to spread untruths or even opinions about anyone and they have every right to clamp down on that but they cannot stop us being critical of the school generally. At the time it seemed like a PR exercise, they just didn't want external people finding out how bad the school was, despite the hard work put in by the teachers. They fired the Head who should have just been given support to carry on and brought in a SuperHead at a cost equivalent to around 10 teachers and proceeded to make any staff above a skeleton staff redundant ( probably to pay for the Head) , which included an inspirational music teacher and ceased all music lessons of any kind. As a working parent it was also very hard to get any information about what was going on at the school without social media. Having said that, I did decide in the end it was best to leave the parent forum as I was finding it too stressful to listen to the complaining and I did think some people were going over the top and interfering with the school and stepping over the line with the comments and actions. Perhaps ignorance is bliss! Maybe not complaining on FB is better for all of our health!

[Stillwaitingforthesummer2come]

We've had a letter home in the past week about social media and the school. Staff there aren't allowed a FB account, though I have no idea how she can enforce that.

[DanyellasDonkey]

So what is the head going to do about staff who have FB accounts (which they are perfectly entitled to do) - sack them?

[Stillwaitingforthesummer2come]

She says they don't have them - I'd love to see what she'd do.

[TeacherBob]

It is pretty much accepted that if teachers have FB accounts, under no circumstances do they share them with children/parents. (this rule is broken by teachers, dumb if you ask me).
Also staff should be careful what is posted on it.
A lot of teachers have fake names.
Teachers have lost their jobs over things posted on FB.

[Starlight234]

Our head has one under there own name so not sure ours can enforce it for staff.

[Mistigri]

All my teacher friends on FB use fake names.

[leghoul]

I agree with Judy & nooka

[Badbadbunny]

No but schools and teachers do have the right not to be defamed or libelled in any way.

Everyone and every organisation has a right not be be defamed or libelled. Schools are no different.

Many employers sensibly have rules within their employment contracts/staff handbooks that employees shouldn't engage on social media about their workplace. They're not banned from using social media, they're banned for discussing work related matters.

You'll never stop parents discussing the school on social media, just as you can't stop them discussing it at the coffee shop or school gate. What the school needs to do is manage it. Just like most other organisations do. You communicate properly with the parents in the first place and deal with any issues as they arise. A lot of comments on social media re schools, and re other organisations, comes about because of the school/organisation not having good comms in the first place or doing silly things.

Banning parents from using social media to discuss a school is not feasible and won't happen. If a particular school is having a problem it needs to manage it, that means telling staff not to engage with parents on social media, to properly report any defamation or libel to the authorities, and more importantly to communicate properly with parents in the first place.

[FATEdestiny]

If you go back 10 years, under no circumstances would a teacher's email address be shared with parents/pupils. Now every teachers email address is published on the school website and subject teachers print it in the cover of pupil exercise books. Significant chunks of communication is now direct email.

The same will come with social media. Schools will catch up in the end and start using social media positively.

[a7mints]

schools and teachers do have the right not to be defamed or libelled in any way

Defamation only applies to individuals, not organisations.So it is not possible to defame a school.
In any case most criticism is clearly that of opinion and not fact.So 'I think Mrs J is a rubbish maths teacher' is not defamatory

[Badbadbunny]

If teachers are getting uppity about social media, they should read some of the comments on the "rate my teacher" website!!

[a7mints]

Frankly the statistical possibility of two law professors having their children at the same primary school and being present at the same meeting, and agreeing, are so low that this bit didn't actually happen.

They may have been husband and wife.I would think that is not statistically impossible!!

[smallfox2002]

Saying Mrs J is a rubbish teacher is defamatory as it: "an imputation which is likely to lower a person in the estimation of right-thinking
people"

"Defamation only applies to individuals, not organisations.So it is not possible to defame a school."

Incorrect. It is sometimes thought that you cannot libel a corporation/organisation. A corporation or entity like a school has a reputation just like a natural person, and that reputation may be injured by a defamatory statement.

[Twodogsandahooch]

We have a school Facebook group. On the whole it is well run and not too controversial. Most class teachers including the HT are in the group and it is really useful for last minute information. Having said this there are a couple of mums who seem to use the site to moan about absolutely bloody everything , from the log in system for school lunches to the quality of the book bags. I think our HT is quite restrained in her replies.

[MrsJoeyMaynard]

So 'I think Mrs J is a rubbish maths teacher' is not defamatory

I can't comment on whether that's accurate legally, but I'd say that comments along those lines definitely come across as a personal attack on an individual teacher, and as such, I can understand a HT wanting parents not to make comments like that.

[TTC1985]

Good for those lawyer parents I completely support. It's one thing to suggest or request that names are not given, or to offer alternative way of venting, but HTs should not consider themselves free to dictate the use of private social media. Absolutely ridiculous and none of their business.