Social Media Guidelines

Limestone Learning Foundation

Social media is an important tool to communicate with our school communities in a timely and relevant way and expand the reach of our current communications. Different social media platforms tend to have specific demographic audiences and tend to cater to a specific format for sharing.  
 

The Limestone District School Board is using Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as our main social networking sites. These sites are managed by the Board's Communications Department. Any other account or page on social networking sites bearing the Board's name or likeness is not an official account managed by us. Several Limestone schools, programs and classes also have social media sites. These sites are managed by those Board employees.
 

The use of all social media sites managed by the Board and/or our employees is guided by a protocol underlined by the ethical and professional principles outlined in existing Board policies and administrative procedures. These guidelines are intended to support and complement existing Administrative Procedures: Administrative Procedure 444: Social Media, Administrative Procedure 146: Digital Citizenship, Administrative Procedure 214: Bullying and Violence Prevention/Human Rights Education, Administrative Procedure 350: Codes of Conduct, Administrative Procedure 351: Safe Schools: The Use of the Internet and Electronic Devices by Students.
 

When to Use 

For school communications, social media is a secondary set of tools that should be used by administrators, educators and staff to direct visitors back to the school website, Board website or direct email communications, as well as to share quick updates as necessary and good news stories. Social media should not be used as the school’s or Board’s primary mode of communication.

Availability 

We update and monitor our accounts most often during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday). On occasion, we may update content outside of our regular business hours to report on events that occur during evenings or weekends, or to report important information. Any messages or questions we receive outside of our regular business hours will be reviewed at the beginning of the next business/school day. The Board will read and follow as many replies and direct messages as possible, however, we may not be able to reply individually to all messages received. If a topic or issue is urgent, followers should contact the Board through other communication channels listed on the Board website.
 

Following 

The Board will follow official accounts of various stakeholder organizations that we believe are relevant to the work we do. The Board does not follow students, or parents of students (unless their work is relevant to ours). Following an account does not imply endorsement of any kind. Comments and posts expressed by followers on Board social media pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions and/or positions of the Board, its employees or Board of Trustees. The Board is not liable for content posted by any user or subscriber in any forum, message board or social media area. The Board and schools will report and delete any posts deemed to be offensive, defamatory or inappropriate and will remove any followers that violate these terms.

Reposting/Sharing etc. 

We will repost, like, and share information from other users or accounts that may be of value to our community. Reposts, likes and shares should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the originator or of any organization.

Comments/Feedback 

The Board welcomes comments, suggestions and questions about the content we post on social media channels. We ask, however, that you follow the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post, and we would like to remind you that all posted comments are in the public domain. To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personal information such as your phone number, home address, or email address in the body of your comment.
 

The Board will report and delete any posts deemed to be offensive, defamatory or inappropriate, and will remove any followers that violate these terms. At times, we may turn off commenting on a post if the conversation includes any of the comments listed above. We will not tolerate comments that are offensive to an individual or an organization, rude in tone, or abusive. We do not discriminate against any views, but we reserve the right to refuse, edit or remove any of the following:
 

    • comments contrary to the principles of the Ontario Human Rights Code;

    • comments that violate any Limestone District School Board policy;

    • racist, hateful, slanderous, abusive, and/or obscene messages;

    • solicitations, advertisements, or spam;

    • comments that encourage or suggest illegal activity or cyber bullying; and

    • messages where the sender is not the author (nor the copyright holder, if applicable), and/or posted anonymously or by robot accounts.


In short, please be respectful and make sure your comments are relevant. If you have any questions about our commenting and service standards, or how we apply them, please
contact us.

The Limestone District School Board is situated on traditional territories of the Anishinaabe & Haudenosaunee.