4026 Procedure – Social Media

The Department of Communications and Community Relations (Communications) will own and regularly maintain and monitor any district-level accounts on third-party social media sites. Any school or staff accounts used for district-related business must be approved by a principal or program administrator. Usernames and passwords, as well as updates to either, must be registered with Communications.

Social media is not intended to be used for policy decisions or items of legal and fiscal significance that have not been previously released to the public. Posting content via social media does not constitute giving official notice to the district, and all such notices or related inquiries should be directed to the appropriate program within the district.

All staff members shall adhere to applicable professional code of conduct laws, electronic resources policy 2022 and procedure 2022P whenever using district computers or devices to access third-party social media sites or whenever conducting job-related (and therefore public) activity on social media sites. All students shall adhere to policy 2022, procedure 2022P and the user release form 2022-F1 whenever using district computers or  networks to access third-party social media sites, regardless of their purposes in doing so.

Professional Use

Those participating in social media for professional purposes should use the same considerations used when communicating with others face-to-face in a professional setting, as well as respect the purposes and conventions of the online community in which they participate. Note that under Washington state law, employees of Bellingham Public Schools also are responsible for their professional code of conduct and obligations as government and school employees whenever they act within their professional capacity. This includes obligations to maintain and disclose public records when required.

Additionally, staff members should maintain professional staff/student boundaries consistent with policy 5253 and procedure 5253P and refrain from using personal webpages, email accounts, social networks, other  electronic media or private messaging capabilities of any social media to communicate directly with currently enrolled students. Staff should also follow expectations in staff expressions policy and procedure 5254.

User-generated Content

The district’s use of social media is limited to promoting the mission and goals of the district. The district may choose to allow user-generated content (e.g., comments) on its social media sites. Comments on the district’s social media pages and accounts do not constitute a traditional or designated public forum.

The district reserves the right to close comments, remove comments and/or block users at any time. All comments should conform with platform rules, policies and terms of service.

Comments that contain the following will be removed:

• Violent, obscene, or profane language, or language that constitutes harassment, intimidation, or bullying under RCW 28A.600.477 or policy 3207.
• Threats or defamatory statements.
• Personal information about others, such as home addresses or personal phone numbers.
• Hyperlinks to third-party sites.
• Conduct of illegal activity or suggestions or encouragement of such.
• Solicitations, advertisements, promotions, or endorsements of third-party businesses or commercial services.

Any content posted to district created or owned sites may be subject to public disclosure under the Washington State Public Records Act, chapter 42.56 RCW.

The district will post notice on its social media sites, where possible, and on its website, indicating the circumstances under which user-generated content will be removed. The district will also post, where feasible, notice on its social media sites alerting users that all content related to district business on the site is a public record, and is therefore subject to applicable retention and disclosure requirements.

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Adopted: 1/7/25

Superintendent or Board Approved: Superintendent Approved