Brookline School Committee Social Media Policy Raises Questions

BROOKLINE, MA — The School Committee has decided to have a single social media spokesperson, but it's not clear when or where that decision was reached, and whether the board complied with Massachusetts Open Meetings law in reaching it.

Brookline School Committee members regular notices to Facebook and jumping into town wide social media discussions to help get the word out about meetings and upcoming hearings, clear up misconceptions, and answer questions that arise. It appears there has been no formal policy governing that communication. But committee Chairperson Julie Schreiner-Oldham announced a change at the June 19 School Committee meeting after coming out of executive, closed-door session.

"We have had some question about school committee and posting on Facebook and in what manner we will post and respond and participate in discussions on Facebook," Schreiner-Oldham told those in attendance at the public portion of the meeting. "The consensus of the committee is that the chair will designate, assign one person to post on behalf of the school committee on social media and that will be the primary way in that we respond in public on school discussion pages and on other social media formats."

If you're on social media, you know there are benefits: Information comes fast and it's a helpful way to keep posted on what's happening. But there can also be confusion and quick responses or you can miss something. As more and more community discussions take place on social media — from Reddit to Twitter to Facebook — that's where town officials are going to answer people's questions, too. But the challenge is how to do that without violating the state's Open Meeting Law, which prohibits public bodies from deliberating as a quorum outside of scheduled meetings.

Although the Brookline School Committee's decision may have been born in effort to avoid violating Open Meeting Law online, it's unclear when it was discussed, how the decision was made, or what the questions were surrounding the issue.

Open Meeting Law requires that all deliberation occur during a properly noticed meeting. There was no mention of the topic on the June 19 School Committee agenda or executive session agenda the June 6 agenda or the May 14 agenda. None of the minutes for those meetings are yet posted online. Discussion does not appear to have been on the agendas for subcommittee meetings during that month, either.

Schreiner-Oldham did not answer Patch's request for comment on how the decision came about but said individual member can still post their individual opinion on social media within the bounds of the open meetings law, but a School Committee social media liaison will handle social media communications on behalf of the committee.

"We will be discussing this further at our School Committee workshop tomorrow," she told Patch in an email 4:30 p.m. Monday.

There has been no official complaint filed on a possible violation, according to the Attorney General data. And town council said they are not aware of any complaints, either.

"Because the School Committee is a public body, it must comply with the Open Meeting law, which prohibits the deliberation of matters within the Committee’s jurisdiction outside of a properly noticed meeting," said Town Council Joslin Murphy in an email to Patch. "In the context of social media platforms, the Attorney General has interpreted the law to permit members of a public body 'to communicate with members of the public through any social media platform,' but cautions that they must not 'engage in deliberation with the other members of the public body through such communications.'"

Massachusetts' Open Meeting law aims to ensure government transparency by requiring public bodies to post notice of their meetings, conduct deliberations in public view and provide public access to both their meetings and certain documents.

The law defines "deliberation" as "an oral or written communication through any medium, including electronic mail, between or among a quorum of a public body on any public business within its jurisdiction." And even the expression of an opinion of one public body member on matters within a public body's jurisdiction to a quorum of a public body can be considered a deliberation, even if no other public body member responds, according to a 2017 Open Meeting Law ruling involving Brookline.

That year the AG's office determined the Select Board did not improperly debate online via Facebook, when a select board member posted a link to a hearing document and invited public comment.

"The Open Meeting Law does not restrict an individual's right to make comments to the general public. Rather, it restricts communication between or among a quorum of a public body outside of a meeting, indicating that the communicator's intent must be examined," read the determination from the Attorney General's office at the time.

Tracy Novick of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees said having a point person to run social media is not unheard of across the state, but it's not common.

It's not unusual for individual members to have social media presences, though, she said. But any time you have that it does raise the question of whether someone is speaking for the committee as a whole or for themselves.

Novick said it's important for committee members to remember that although social media is a valuable tool for the spread of information and adds to the committee's ability to answer questions and inform the community. Still, she said, the association challenges committees to remember when they serve on the public body, there are a set of ethics.

"Serving as a member of the committee, you have an individual voice, but you don't make decisions on your own," she said. "It can be a challenge not to preview your vote and not to pre-commit to things because the deliberation process is something that's supposed to happen in a meeting with information presented as a group."

At the end of the day they make their decisions through a deliberative process. That deliberative process doesn't happen on social media it happens at public meetings, she said.

From the state website:

May members of a public body communicate with the public through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and webpages?

Yes, members of public bodies may communicate with members of the public through any social media platform. However, members of public bodies must be careful not to engage in deliberation with the other members of the public body through such communications. If a member of a public body communicates directly with a quorum of the public body over social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, that communication may violate the Open Meeting Law. Public body members should proceed with caution when communicating via these platforms.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).