Education Law Notes  

Pullman & Comley School Law attorney Zachary D. Schurin authored an article that appeared in the May 2024 issue of School Administrator magazine, which is published by the national School Superintendents Association and addresses a host of issues in school system leadership and resources to support the effective operation of schools nationwide. In the article, Zach outlines the legal risks associated with school-affiliated social media accounts, and provides tips for compliance.

As explained in the article, recent case law from around the country suggests that the use of school-affiliated social media accounts by school administrators and board of education members can implicate significant First Amendment and student privacy concerns particularly if the comment space that follows social media posts is left open for comments by community members.  As Zach writes in his article, "when a school administrator uses a social media account to engage with school stakeholders and then opens the account up for feedback, selectively censoring comments based on content often runs afoul of the First Amendment."

As Zach also notes in the article, from a FERPA and student privacy perspective it is also critical to ensure any involved parties have not opted out of a disclosure of directory information when posting photos to a school-affiliated social media account. "While most student information that gets posted to social media likely constitutes directory information under FERPA, it is still a good idea to require affirmative parental consent before posting personally identifiable information of a student for the world to see," Zach writes.

To read the full article or for more information, please visit the ASSA website or contact Attorney Schurin at zschurin@pullcom.com.