Pillar One: Strong Policies

Goal: The consolidation of two policies and the appropriate implementation procedures and practices into a single Policy aligned with a single Procedure document to improve Transparency, Means of Escalation and Community Confidence in the efficacy of the Policies.

Policy Updates / Changes:

1. Consolidate the Bullying Policy with the Harassment and Discrimination Policy.
2. Implement Standardized Metric Gathering and a regular cadence of Reporting to the School Committee.
3. Document a Means of Escalation to the School Committee for rare cases in which the resolution was not suitable to the Victim and/or his or her Family via compliance with Executive Session Rules in the Open Meeting Law Statutes.
4. Implement mandatory electronic claim filing by the claimant or the member of staff receiving the claim.

Justification:  Through multiple discussions with impacted individuals I have heard feedback that reporting a claim can be an arduous, difficult to follow process.  Further, on multiple occasions I have told that the family won't report the claim due to concerns about retaliation, the lack of ability of the school to protect the child and/or perceived lack of follow through on previous claims.  These changes are meant to streamline the reporting process while providing transparency to the greater community as a whole and confidence to the reporter that the claim will be processed appropriately.

The use of Social Media as an avenue to engage with the Reading community has been eschewed by the School Committee for quite some time. Generally, this is due to concerns about potentially violating Open Meeting Law. If we look at the polices that are at the center of this discussion, then examine the potential positives of changing the mode of operation, we may be able to arrive at a suitable policy to govern how the School Committee leverages Social Media as a proactive means of communication with the community.

Back in 2006, the School Committee approved Policy AB (The People and their School District) in which it committed to the following:

'Maintain two-way communications with citizens of the community.  The public will be kept informed of the progress and problems of the school system, and citizens will be urged to bring their aspirations and feelings about their public schools to the attention of this body, which they have chosen to represent them in the management of public education.'

Further, per Policy BBA (School Committee Powers and Duties), the School Committee recognizes a duty in Public Relations:

'Public relations.  The Committee is responsible for providing adequate and direct means for keeping the local citizenry informed about the schools and for keeping itself and the school staff informed about the needs and wishes of the public.'

Finally, per Policy BHE (Use of Electronic Messaging by School Committee Members) the School Committee is rightfully concerned about the use of Social Media platforms as an accidental means of deliberation that may violate Open Meeting Law.  They key portions of that Policy are:

'As elected public officials, School Committee members shall exercise caution when communicating between and among themselves via electronic messaging services including, but not limited to, electronic mail (e-mail), text messages, social media postings, internet web forums, and internet chat rooms.

Under the Open Meeting Law, deliberation by a quorum of members constitutes a meeting. Deliberation is defined as movement toward a decision including, but not limited to, the sharing of an opinion regarding business over which the Committee has supervision, control, or jurisdiction.  A quorum may be arrived at sequentially using electronic messaging without knowledge and intent by the author.'

With that background, I tread lightly into a proposed Use of Social Media Policy recommendation.  I see many benefits in such a policy, including but not limited to:

1. Ability to distribute materials and a synopsis thereof, to the public where many gather to discuss a wide range of topics, from nail salon recommendations to national politics.  While materials are currently distributed via the district's Web Site and the Town's electronic archives, I have heard from many parents that they do not know where to find Policies, Meeting Minutes, Agendas, etc.  Further, there are often Agenda items that parents may want to participate in, but aren't sufficiently aware of due to this lack of knowledge and understanding.
2. Ability to defuse potentially negative situations quickly.  Like it or not, occasionally Social Media takes on a life of its own.  Accidentally, somebody may post incorrect or incomplete information.  If designated School Committee members were able to respond, further agitation could likely be avoided.  This avoidance could clear up issues more quickly and enable School Committee meetings themselves to be more productive working on the business of the Schools.
3. Ability to reach a broader audience.  While the current Superintendent Blog, as one example, has a lot of good information in it, it is primarily directed to the School Community.  There are many constituencies outside the School Community that may be interested in such information and a quick post and share on Facebook or some other such platform would make the information more available to the greater Reading community as a whole.
4. Ability to publicly celebrate the good things that happen within the school district.  Whether it is the High Five at the High School or an exceptional Understanding Disabilities event at Parker or Coolidge, Social Media would allow the School Committee to celebrate many of the great things happening throughout the district.

I am under no delusion that such a change would be easy.  However, I have experienced frequently that what is easy isn't always what is best.  As such, I would propose the following as a starting point for this policy:

1. The School Committee shall Rotate the Role(s) of Social Media Coordinator(s). This is proposal number one for two reasons.  First, if there is a rotation of Quorum - 1 School Committee members that contribute on a monthly basis to Social Media platforms, then the School Committee will avoid Open Meeting Law violations.  Further, it means that no one person will be overburdened with the job.  Second, by rotating, members can avoid any appearance of grandstanding or other such concerns that may have caused problems with other boards or committees in the past. Finally, this rotation can mimic the current "office hours" rotation that the School Committee performs and thus, doesn't have to be limited to the Chair.
2. The School Committee shall Establish their own Facebook Page. As has been done in other towns (i.e. Woburn, Melrose and Pentucket Regional), the Facebook page provides a mechanism to reach out to the community for information distribution and celebratory posts.  Further, the fact that posts would be shareable makes it much easier to distribute information to other Facebook forums.
3. The Policy shall Reference the Determinations from OML 2017-11, OML 2017-192 and OML 2018-145.

The intent of the proposal is to improve transparency between the School Committee, the Superintendent and their Constituent base.  I acknowledge the above will take some ironing out, but I believe the 'juice is worth the squeeze' to improve relationships, perceptions and the flow of information.