Assignment 2: RA 2: Policy Proposal Paper

Social media policy

The social media policy draft seeks to address the problem of social media use in schools. The policy aims at establishing rules and regulation for the usage of social media by both the employees and the students. This policy addresses the issues of social media privacy when using school district's CIS systems. According to this policy any information created, send, received, stored or displayed through the system can be is not guaranteed privacy. The information can be viewed by a third party’s system. However, the policy does not include visitors in the restrictions rules. According to this policy students and employees can use their personal data bundle to surf and access social media such as Facebook and Twitter. (Bertot, Jaeger & Hansen, 2012).

The possible stakeholders in this policy are; the students, the schools employees, Kanawha County's public school officers and the schools administration. The students and school employees are the people directly targeted by the policy and are directly affected. The policy impacts on the privacy of their social media use. The school administration is responsible to ensure that the policy is implemented and followed in accordance with directions given by the Kanawha County's public school officers. The Kanawha County’s public school officials are responsible for formulation of the policy.

The proposed policy poses a number of risks to the stakeholders involved. One of the risks posed by the policy is access of personal, private and confidential information by unauthorized person. Users of social medial exchange important and confidential information via the social medial. Allowing a third party’s system to have access to this information exposes the user to a great risk of leak of information.

Another risk posed by this policy is infringement of people right to free speech. Restricting users of social media will be like infringing their right to free speech Most of people use social medial to express their opinion on various issues affecting them. Therefore, restricting the usage of the social medial will deny them of this fundamental right. (Williams, Feild, & James, 2011).

The above policy can be modified in different ways to before its adoption. One possible modification for the policy is to set time under which the policy should apply. The policy should not be in force all throughout the day. The students and employees should be given specific time frames under which they can enjoy using the social media without fear of being monitored. (Fowler, 2009)

Another possible modification for this policy is to restrict specific social media which may cause harm but not all the social media. The policy should specify which social medial platforms will be monitored when used within the school premises. In this, way the policy can succeed in discouraging users from accessing a particular social medial when in school. (Fowler, 2009)

The goals of the policy makers were to control and regulate the usage of social media in school environment. The policy makers wanted to prevent the use of social media to transfer and spread unwanted materials and information which could either harm others or cause defamatory.

It is good to regulate social media usage in schools especially among the students. However, total denial or total restrictions may not be the best approach. The policy should put into consideration the provision and of the constitution concerning personal privacy and right of expression. In addition it is unethical to monitor somebody’s private and confidential conversation without their permission. Therefore the policy makers should consider adjusting the policy to capture all the relevant considerations.

Once adopted, the proposal will require various actions and resources to be implemented fully. The social medial policy should be distributed to everyone affected by the policy. This action is meant to make read and understand before it is implemented. The policy makers should also educate the students and employees about the implication of the policy. This is meant to prevent case of people breaking the policy regulations unawares. (Fowler, 2009)

The policy makers should conduct a legal review through law practitioners. Legal review ensures that the policy is consistent with all State and Federal laws. Once the document it is approved by a qualified counsel it can be implement as a binding document to the affected parties.

The policy will require an information system and qualified personnel to monitor the system. The information system will be responsible for monitoring the social medial activities by the affected parties. The system should be able to filter and sort information retrieved from the users. (Bertot, Jaeger & Hansen, 2012).

The system is likely to face several resistances from the students and employees affected by the policy. The affected parties are likely to advocate against the policy claiming that it interferes with the right for privacy and freedom of speech. The students and worker are even likely to demonstrate against the implementation of the policy.

To overcome the resistance the leader of policy advocacy should hold some training to pass information to the affected parties highlighting the advantages of implementing the policies and some positive implication of the policy once implemented.

References

Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Hansen, D. (2012). The impact of polices on government social

Media usage: Issues, challenges, and recommendations. Government information quarterly, 29(1), 30-40.

Fowler, F. C. (2009). Policy studies for educational leaders: An introduction. Allyn &

Bacon/Pearson.

Williams, J., Feild, C., & James, K. (2011). The effects of a social media policy on pharmacy

Students’ Facebook security settings. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 75(9), 177.