001The following program is a presentation of the Ohio School Boards Association. Welcome to the Leading the Way podcast [music] where we bring you the voices shaping public education across Ohio. Hey everyone, it's Scott Gerfen. Today's topic is social media, but probably not in the way you're expecting because when we talk with board members, the question usually isn't how do I use social media better? It's should I even be posting at all? And if you're posting, what's the purpose? So today, we're going to keep this practical. What are we seeing in the field? Where do board members get tripped up and how do you avoid creating problems for yourself or your school board? Two of OSBA's board consultants are here today, Christie Robbins and Quinn Maceiko to talk all about it. Thanks for being here, guys.
002Thanks for having us. >> you. So I want to start with something we've been hearing. It's not that you can't post, it's what's the purpose? Can you guys expand on that? Sure, I can start. Really the I think there's a fine line in terms of posting on social media. It should be viewed as a one-way conversation versus a two-way conversation to avoid deliberation, to avoid violation of the Open Meetings Act. So thinking about posting factual information or referring people to your district's website is probably the best approach. And we talk about violating the Open Meetings Act, what Give me a scenario where that could happen. If you share a situation or ask for an opinion prior to board deliberation or a board vote, that gets dangerously close to violating the Open Meetings Act, especially if
003other board members weigh in and share their opinions. So you need to be cautious about that. Quinn, what's an example of a board member using social media in an appropriate way. I think an appropriate way would be that it is relaying the information that you have conveyed on your school district's website and also your school district's official social media. Those are the anchors you really want to hold on to and social media should be an extension of your board unity that you are trying to share the good news that's happening in your district to a wider audience. So, I want to run this scenario by you guys. A board member creates a Facebook page identifies them as a board member of a school district and starts posting opinions about board decisions after meetings. What's the
004concern there? The board is one entity and no individual board members have authority beyond the board itself. And so one of the dangers there is for an individual board member to speak on behalf of the board when they are not authorized to do so. So that can create some issues for the board itself and and as Quinn said it could impact the board in terms of unity. It could also impact when decisions have not yet been made and you have an individual expressing their opinion before deliberating openly in a public meeting. >> [clears throat] >> And I think it's important too that you cause the perception of disunity when you do that because the deliberation should stay in the board room and once a decision has been made by the board, that's the team's decision
005and even if you might disagree with the decision that was made, you as a team player have to go forward and make sure it's implemented to its fullest. So we often hear the advice don't post Christie. Yes and instead refer people to the district's official channels. You still believe that's the safest approach even though there are board members that do. There's so many things that could occur and it's it's just as I said a fine line. So, you know, my philosophy has always been when in doubt, cut it out. Um approach it very cautiously if um you want to share factual information, information about um perhaps the district is hosting a town hall meeting or a listening tour. Those are the types of things that you can post. Um you need to be cautious about
006creating public records. Um because if you are posting as a board member, that could be considered a public record. You need to be cautious about expressing how you plan to vote um before actually deliberating in um public session. So, um also another thing to be cautious about is sharing confidential information. So, there are lots of ways that board members can get tripped up. Um so, for myself as a board member, um when I was a board member, I was very cautious. It's It's good to to listen to what's being said out there and if you hear a lot of it misinformation, um making sure your superintendent is aware of what's being said and referring folks to the website. Because really when you you know, there a lot of these districts they have group chats that
007get going, things get posted and I think board members feel the need to respond, right? >> Absolutely. Right? >> Absolutely. Um so, that's what's it's difficult and and again, um I think we've all probably done that where we've responded and wished that we didn't. Um but as a public official, we need to be very cautious about expressing our opinions and getting into a situation where it could violate the open meetings act. Um listening is important, you know, the I I believe that social media has replaced the town hall. So, that's a place to go to see what's going on out there and to to kind of keep your ear to the ground and understand what the public is concerned about. Um that's important information for board members, but taking that back to your district, to
008your superintendent, making sure that you're sharing factual information on the website and referring people there is probably the best approach. And I think that uh to go back to Christie's point about the public records is that if you're considering doing this you know, it should be a wider discussion amongst you uh and your full board about you know, I'd like to I'd like to do this or if we're all going to have our own, which is fine, but let's consider bringing in our legal counsel or calling our uh OSBA legal hotline to make sure that we have clarity on what the public public records laws are when it comes to sharing things, posting things to an official board member page. So, if I'm a board member listening to this, and I hope many are, uh
009what's the one question I should ask myself before I hit post? >> [laughter] >> That's a it's a good question. It's um it needs to be a gut check. Um again, if you think about it for a minute and you think maybe I shouldn't be posting this, you're probably right. Um so, you need to ask yourself whether or not um this is something that should be discussed in a public meeting of the full board. Um those are the types of things that I would think about. But again, gut check, make sure that um you know, you're sharing factual information, you're not expecting a dialogue, it's a one-way communication is really the best approach. Gwen, any final thoughts? Um I think when it comes to that um I think you have to watch yourself on whether
010you're expressing your own personal opinion and and how much you're going to do that. You're duly elected by your constituents. Obviously, they want to hear from you. They want to hear your thoughts, but uh understanding that when it's been a team decision that you have to respect that team decision moving forward and implement that to its fullest and continue to utilize the district district's officials channels to make sure that people are referred to the correct information. Another way to think about it Scott is if the topic involves board action, policy or controversy, save it for a meeting. Yeah. If multiple members might jump in, people begin to be tagged, especially board members, then don't start a thread. But even though it feels informal and that's the tricky part of it, it can be construed as
011a legal meeting. It can be construed as you know, it it could become an accidental meeting, something that you did not intend to create. So you need to be cautious about that. >> to make sure we're clear on how it can become a meeting is if you get a thread and and let's say all the board members on the board start weighing in, then it becomes That becomes that becomes a meeting and that's what you want to avoid. Right. So I guess the takeaway is pause, think about why you're posting, when in doubt, stick with your district's official channels like is what I'm hearing, right? Yeah. Yeah. >> Christie Quinn, thanks so much for coming on Leading the Way podcast and thank you for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.