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ERIC Number: EJ915477
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jan
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0192-592X
EISSN: N/A
Social Networking: Keeping It Clean
Waters, John K.
T.H.E. Journal, v38 n1 p52-54, 56-57 Jan 2011
The need to maintain an unpolluted learning environment is no easy task for schools and districts that have incorporated social networking sites into their educational life. The staff and teachers at Blaine High School in Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin District 11 had been considering the pros and cons of establishing a school Facebook page when the district's administrators got wind that someone else had beaten them to it. "We checked it out and found this official-looking page," says Brett Johnson, the district's assistant director of communications and public relations. "It was very well done, had a photograph of the front of the school, and a professional design. But no one at the high school had any idea who was running it." And no one was certain exactly what should be done about it. At first, nothing especially controversial was appearing on the bogus Blaine page. But then someone posted a student death notice. The perpetrator of the fraud has yet to be found, according to Johnson, but the district suspects it was a former student. The school promptly established its own official Facebook page, he says, "to fill the vacuum before someone else did." Blaine High School's entry into the world of social media might not have been the most auspicious Facebook debut, but it illustrates one of several unique security challenges school districts face today when they decide to include social media in their mix of educational resources.
1105 Media, Inc. Available from: T.H.E. Journal Magazine. P.O. Box 2170, Skokie, IL 60076. Tel: 866-293-3194; Tel: 866-886-3036; Fax: 847-763-9564; e-mail: THEJournal@1105service.com; Web site: http://www.thejournal.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Minnesota
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A