New Policy Sets Online Conduct Guidelines For GCS Board Members

The Guilford County Board of Education held its final school board meeting for the academic year. It included debate over a proposed policy for board member technology use.

The board approved school calendars for the 2021/22 school year and voted on several new measures. One of them is a policy that lists standards board members should follow for online conduct.

The policy includes guidance on the use of personal social media accounts for posting any district-related content.

It says, in posting such content, that may create a “public forum” for speech protected by the First Amendment. It states board members must be careful not to engage in viewpoint discrimination: that could include deleting a comment they disagree with or blocking certain individuals. GCS attorney Jill Wilson explains the need for the policy.

“If you open it [content posted] up to a public forum and conduct public business in there then you are going to change the nature of what you can limit,” she says.

But some board members say the policy infringes on their rights. In the end, the measure passed 6-2.  

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