Pittsfield Schools to Reconsider Communication Policy
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Public Schools will revisit its cell phone and personal communication policies to ensure there are clear expectations.
A mother had reported that an educator gathered student contact information, such as personal email and phone number, via a new school year form and wasn't pleased with the administration's response.
After some heated testimony at the Sept. 23 School Committee meeting, the Policy subcommittee was charged with reassessing and clarifying the district's rules for electronic communication with staff.
Superintendent Latifah Phillips has heard that parents want informed consent when their child's information is collected; this was confirmed by caregivers who spoke during public comment at the subcommittee meeting on Tuesday at the Mercer Administration Building.
"The intention is for us to update the policy to have an expectation and requirement that parents are informed about when we need to collect student information," Phillips said.
"I think the other piece around information we still need to gather is what are all of the ways that staff are needing to contact students so that we can know that whatever we write, it's broad enough for everyone's appropriate needs."
The administration will return in November with new proposed language to clear any grey areas.
Phillips recognized times where it might be appropriate to collect student contact information, such as for field trips, clubs, athletics, or in Career Technical Education programs. She thinks there is a way PPS can get informed consent and meet the needs of staff, "which are, in most cases, well-intentioned."
She said the best way to move forward is to create a draft and allow staff to respond.
"Given that we are in a different time, we've got different access to different tools, and even to parents, we've got access to parents, so it does seem reasonable to take that step to say, ‘I'm going to let the parent know what I'm going to collect for what reason,' and let the parent at least respond back if they have an issue," Phillips explained.
Last year, PPS adopted a policy that bars staff members from connecting with students outside of their immediate family on social media and calling or messaging them from a personal phone. The district found that collecting information does not violate the policy's language.
School Committee member Daniel Elias is cautious about a blanket "no," but feels that parents' consent is a must-have.
"And maybe through the dialog with staff, we can come up with a list of reasonable exceptions of why this would be beneficial," he added.
Heather McNiece, fellow committee member, said in rewriting the policy, they need to clarify what staff can and can't do, and provide guidance for specific situations. In her experience, communication apps that hide personal information have been effective, and students are less likely to check emails.
"I just think we really need to have more of not so much what not to do, but what to do more of so that we can put it into practice because it's not clear," she said.
"It's not clear for our new teachers who have so much to learn, and it's not clear for our older teachers who have been doing the same thing for a long time, myself included."
Resident Tina Jones, who reported the incident, said there are proper ways for educators and students to be in contact, such as Parent Square, which has a student version of the app, and emergency contacts filed with the school.
"The world is not safe. I think over the past few years we've seen that, and by doing this, you're opening the door, saying, 'You know what? It's OK for this teacher. I should trust this teacher ultimately that nothing's going to happen.' That means every teacher that I come across, nothing should happen, and we've seen that's not true," she said.
"That door should be closed. Our children should be protected, along with other students and staff."
Jones feels parental consent is a must for communication of any shape or form on a student's personal contact, and asked the district to work towards implementing an app for staff, students, and parents.
"And accountability from principals that they reach out to parents about these situations in a timely manner. Not just the parent who complains, all the parents who aren't involved in that situation. It's a matter of preventing our kids from being hurt, keeping them safe, and in keeping them safe, we can keep teachers and staff safe," she added.
Brenda Coddington asked: Why create the opportunity for a problem when there's already a school-approved way to communicate? She said this protects teachers and staff just as much as it protects the students.
"I understand that years ago, this might have been considered normal, and a teacher might have called or texted a student about homework, a game, or some other matter. But times have changed, and our policies really need to reflect the world that we live in," she said.
"We have already recognized the need for boundaries when it comes to teachers and students on personal social media. Teachers shouldn't be following students on TikTok or communicating with them through Snapchat or other personal social media accounts. The same standard should apply to personal phone numbers and personal email addresses."
Tags: Pittsfield Public Schools, school policy,
