Dolan Asked for Facebook Status Update

With just over a month to go to the deadline, a member is questioning why the school district has not created a Facebook page.

BOE member Mitch Slater, who was the first to propose the creation of a Facebook page, questioned Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan on why the page is still being studied. In January, to create a Facebook fan page for the school district by the beginning of May. At the time, the BOE said Dolan’s annual review was contingent on the Facebook page and the creation of anti-bullying programs.

“I really don’t believe that this is a large undertaking,” Slater said in remarks at Tuesday evening’s board meeting. “It’s 2011 and if we are preaching 21st Century skills to our students we should be using them ourselves.”

Dolan said that she and district officials have been studying Facebook and creating the right model for the district. She said she would check into the status of the page and deliver an update to Slater and the full board at next Tuesday’s BOE meeting.

Slater first pushed the Facebook fan page during his 2010 campaign for the board, saying that the school system did not communicate well with the public. The school system has been hit with criticism in recent years over what some say is a lack of communication with the public over decisions. In December, to Washington School area residents over the lack of communication from the school district regarding the board’s 2009 redistricting of the neighborhood.

Slater is one of three Washington area BOE members who were elected in the wake of the redistricting effort, which generated strong opposition from the neighborhood.

“The more you communicate with your community, the better off you will be,” Slater said to the board.

The Facebook issue, and communications, has become one in the current BOE campaign with five of the candidates creating Facebook pages for their campaigns and candidate Mark Friedman around Westfield and a BOE blog. Friedman has also endorsed the creation of a Facebook page.

Slater reminded Dolan and board members that the Princeton public schools have created a Facebook fan page, which has allowed the system to share a variety of information and allows both positive and negative feedback from residents. Dolan said she has extensively studied the Princeton Facebook page to obtain ideas on how to develop the Westfield page.

A look at the Princeton Facebook page shows a variety of postings from the school system, including links to newspaper articles on a variety of education issues, including merit pay and the confirmation of the state education commissioner. In addition such topics as the new school calendars, which generated 21 comments, including questions about the calendars, which were answered by the school system. The calendar comments include suggestions from residents on how to improve the calendar proposal.

BOE member Gary McCready, who has made technology his signature issue, said he would like the system to develop a guidebook for the use of Facebook. He said this would include the style for posts, what would be posted, who would utilize the site on behalf of the school system and security features. McCready said that security features would include making sure the BOE could not access personal information of fans.

Dolan said her staff is currently looking into the issues McCready raised as part of the process. She did not say what the time frame for addressing these issues is.

McCready said that he is not sure if the Facebook guidelines should take the place of a formal BOE policy, a process which would take several months to complete. BOE policies are adopted after study by the board’s policy committee and need a four-week waiting period between first introduction to the board and final adoption.

Slater said the Facebook page would help the district reach a wide range of residents.

“Whether you are 15, 25 or 55, Facebook has become a major part of how we live our lives,” he said.