Last Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting brought some changes to school calendars, administrator contracts and potentially to a social media policy.

The discussion on the adoption of Social Media Policy and Guidelines for Employee Use was tabled for the next meeting. The five-page draft of the guidelines, which were said to be introduced for precautionary and protocol purposes, offer rules for employees who post to social media on behalf of Warwick Public Schools, plus further suggestions for personal and professional pages run by other employees. The guidelines address how posts should remain professional, how to avoid risky situations and arguments, and how to manage privacy settings.

“The line between professional and personal relationships is blurred within a social media context,” a portion of the guidelines read. “When any employee chooses to join or engage with students, families or fellow employees in a social media context that exists outside those approved by the Warwick Public Schools, they are advised to maintain their professionalism as WPS employees and have responsibility for addressing inappropriate behavior or activity on these networks, including requirements for mandated reporting.”

Drafted by the school administration, the guidelines say employees should refrain from creating personal web or social networking pages that allow social interaction with current students. “Professional” pages that are used for work-related reasons (homework blogs, school sports teams, etc.) are not part of that recommendation. However, they state that employees should notify parents of their intention and purposes of social media use to communicate with the students, and “all ethical expectations for appropriate employee/student relationships should be followed.”

The guidelines urge employees not to connect with former students until at least five years after high school graduation and to only provide their official work e-mail addresses as a way to communicate with students or parents regarding school and/or related business. According to the guidelines, employees should refrain from participating on any social networking website for personal reasons, even from personal equipment. In addition, employees “should avoid posting personal comments – on their page or someone else’s page – no matter whose equipment it is during lunch time and/or breaks since such activities will leave time-stamps that could be misinterpreted by others.”

The guidelines also state that "an employee who is responsible for a social media network posting that fails to comply with the rules and guidelines set forth in this policy may be subject to discipline, up to and including termination."

Superintendent Philip Thornton said the discussion was tabled, as the School Committee wanted the policy “tweaked some.” School Committee member Karen Bachus called the policy “horrible” and “draconian in its limitations.”

“I pushed hard to get it tabled until we can look at it and come up with something that everyone can live with,” she said on Monday.

School Committee Vice Chair Eugene Nadeau said Monday that members wanted changes to the policy and that it wasn’t ready for further discussion at last Tuesday’s meeting. He said he agreed with Chair Beth Furtado’s sentiment of needing to know more.

“Not enough was known about it; it just came up and went after a short discussion,” he said.

In terms of calendar changes, students will have February 20, 2018, the day after President’s Day, off from school as it will be designated as a voluntary professional development day. April vacation was kept at its original 16th-20th dates. This year’s final day of school for students is June 23, but because they will return on September 5 of this year, their final day in 2018 will be June 13. The return date for teachers at the start of the 2017-2018 school year is still being decided.

The new contracts were approved, creating one-year contracts for both administrators and middle management employees. Pay raises for those employees will not be presented until after the budget is approved. The contracts will go into effect in July.

The School Committee also approved $5,585 for a PA Amplifier at Pilgrim, $18,106.92 for reading materials, $40,400 for maintenance and vehicle replacement, and $18,000 for Aspen scheduling training. Bid awards for asbestos abatement at Pilgrim exterior doors and at Vets were also approved.