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School District Limiting Communication Between Staff and Students

Students and staff in one local school district won’t be able to communicate by text or social media on an individual basis if a new policy is approved.

Students and staff in the River Bend School District will no longer be able to communicate by text or social media on an individual basis if a new policy is approved.

River Bend School District Superintendent, Dr. Chuck Holliday, says the focus of the policy is to make sure there is a district policy in place for everyone to follow.  The policy prohibits all staff from contacting a student on an individual basis.

That goes for sports as well.  If a practice is changed or a game is cancelled, the coach has two choices.  They can contact the parents directly or contact the student athletes through a mass messaging system.

Fulton student athlete Averi Leitzen says that is best.

“I like it going through the parents so they know where I have to be as well to remind me,” Averi says.

Averi’s father, Jeremy Leitzen agrees that all communication should be monitored.

“People that are in command that could do something bad, it is always better to have some sort of control and know what is going on,” the father tells us.

The rules would apply to social media as well.  Teachers, staff and coaches are not allowed to “friend” a student on Facebook or any other social media sites.

“We want to maintain that professional relationship,” Holliday said.

Holliday said there is a similar policy in place and most of the rules are already being practiced, but the amendments are to make sure everyone is on the same page.

“We don’t want anyone to need to say ‘What can I do?’  We want to do everything we can to protect our students and our employees,” Holliday said.

The first reading of the revised policy was on the agenda for the school district meeting Monday, June 17.  If adopted, the policy will be approved in July.

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