Education Law

Interactive Snowday Notification

One of the things that has caught my eye this winter is the use of Facebook to notify parents of school closures. In particular, the comment option on Facebook posts has be used frequently by parents to give their two cents on the decision. Today, for instance, my local district, Fayette County Public Schools, has cancelled. It's borderline today (my kids preschool stayed open), so the comments are pouring in and the discussion is intense.  

I've noticed that districts have been dealing with this differently on their Facebook pages. Consider that FCPS is responding to some, not to others, but doing so from a professional district account. Also, the responses are coming from FCPS' PR department. After a series of tough comments on the decision, FCPS made this response: 

A different way of dealing with this comes from another large district in Kentucky, where the Superintendent himself posts the notification and responds to comments (and gets the spam): 

Of course, other districts can either post nothing at all, or just refuse to respond to comments. I'm not sure what the best procedures are, but it has been extremely interesting this year (because of the frequency of snow days and the tipping point Facebook has seemed to cross). Either way, it is a very interesting new conversation taking place between school officials and their communities. 

Even though there is lots of potential for abuse and legal issues, generally, I think this is a good thing. And, if this is the icebreaker (pun intended) for districts utilizing Facebook pages more broadly both with communities and with students, then I am happy to see it. 

Full post as published by Edjurist on January 24, 2011 (boomark / email).