So the Toronto Catholic District School Board is in the process of developing a formal social media policy.
鈥淲e have a responsibility to develop these policies in conjunction with students. We have to hear their voices as well,鈥� said Aguiar, co-ordinator of 21st-century learning and the academic information communication and technology department for the Toronto Catholic board. 鈥淭he important thing is to start the conversation. There is a netiquette out there that we have to be a little more specific with our students about.鈥�
Like many school boards across the country the TCDSB is now paying more attention to what their students are posting online, and with good reason. Cyberbullying victims such as Amanda Todd, the British Columbia teen who took her life earlier this school year, and Jenna Bowers-Bryanton, a Nova Scotian who took her life in January 2011 at age 15, have framed this as a coast-to-coast problem.
And it鱿鱼视频app not just peers the cyberbullies are preying upon either. Last November a Brampton Catholic high school suspended seven of nine students involved in a Twitter conversation which included degrading, threatening and sexually explicit remarks directed towards three teachers. Although the school board had no social media policy at the time, it was able to discipline the students by utilizing the Catholic Code of Conduct and Ontario鱿鱼视频app Education Act.
Not only do these cases expose the range of cyberbullying attacks, they also leave school officials wondering what to do when it happens in their board.
鈥淢essages these days can be distributed so quickly, just with the simple click of a forward button,鈥� said Aguiar. 鈥淧art of our responsibility as educators is to teach our students about the world, to teach them how to deal with each other and other adults. In some ways we鈥檝e fallen behind because we didn鈥檛 grow up in this (digital) world.鈥�
The Toronto board鱿鱼视频app revised Acceptable Use Policy regarding technology in general, completed about a year ago, is a step in the right direction, according to Aguiar, but it doesn鈥檛 allow the board to safely navigate student use of today鱿鱼视频app technology, let alone coast into tomorrow鱿鱼视频app.
While many boards are in this position, there are a few that have developed policies specific to social media, and Aguiar said Toronto will, to some degree, model its policy around existing ones.
鈥淐ertainly we can learn from what others have done,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have to be very conscious of ourselves as a Catholic board as well and make sure it reflects our roles as Catholic educators.鈥�
The Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board is also developing a social media specific policy to supplement its existing social media guidelines.
鈥淲e were hoping to have it ready for the fall but we weren鈥檛 ready for it at that point,鈥� said Nancy Sharpe, manager of communications and freedom of information/privacy for the board. 鈥淲e felt that to do it correctly we wanted to make sure that we researched social media adequately.鈥�
A draft of the policy is awaiting review by the board鱿鱼视频app policy committee which, if approved, will then require the input of trustees and their constituents before being ratified. The goal is to have the policy in place by early spring.
In Toronto, Aguiar is open to the input of others during the policy鱿鱼视频app development, but he has his own ideas regarding the overall tone of the document.
鈥淲e have to make our expectations clear but not in a punitive way,鈥� said Aguiar, adding he鈥檇 like to see the policy completed within the year. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 just be a policy that says you shall not. It has to be a document that empowers and educates, that shows the potential for social media but also offers some common-sense guidelines based on civility, how to treat a person with respect and 鈥� our Catholic values.鈥�
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