Superintendent Update Letter (social media) Nov 2024
8 Nov 2024
Dear Greenback Family,
I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the cooler weather. As we work together to support our students, I want to address an important concern that affects us all: the spread of misinformation on social media and its impact on the mental health of our students, teachers, and families.
Social media plays a big role in the lives of many students and adults, offering opportunities for connection and creativity. However, it also comes with risks—especially the spread of rumors and misinformation. Inaccurate or misleading posts can quickly circulate, causing confusion, fear, and anxiety.
Misinformation can take many forms, from false rumors about school events to exaggerated claims about global issues. For students, this can lead to heightened stress, feelings of isolation, or even conflict with peers. For our teachers, misleading information about classroom practices or school policies can create misunderstandings with families and add unnecessary stress, affecting their ability to focus on what matters most: teaching and supporting our students.
Supporting Our Students
As parents and educators, we share the responsibility of guiding our students through the challenges of navigating social media. To help address these issues, here are a few steps we can all take:
- Teach Media Literacy: Encourage your child to critically evaluate the information they see online. Help them identify credible sources and question sensational or misleading content. We include this and cyber safety in our learning goals with students.
- Limit Social Media Exposure: Too much time on social media can increase anxiety, especially when students are exposed to negative or harmful content. Setting healthy boundaries on screen time can help students balance their online and offline lives. At our parent/educator site council meetings we have been discussing the pros and cons of creating more cellphone-free time for our older students during the school day—of course, we can only impact the school day, but many of our parents are rightfully concerned about the impact of too much availability and time spent on the social media apps accessed through cellphones.
- Report and Address Misinformation: If you come across inaccurate information related to our school or community, please inform us. By working together, we can ensure that any concerns are addressed with accurate, timely information. This one is tricky. I’ve generally taken a “Haters gonna hate” (oh, I can imagine how my older students will deservedly give the old guy grief for that line ) approach with social media posts. Sensible folks come to us with concerns. We are certainly not always perfect and we continually reflect on best practices because our goal, across the board with our teachers, leadership, and support staff is to help our students maximize their growth and help develop their potential. And, just like strong parents, sometimes that means we will make our students uncomfortable as we push them. The art of education is finding just the right spot for that line. If we are not making somebody at least a bit upset, we probably are not adequately challenging our students. Because I don’t think it will play well for us to respond on social media, we need to trust that people will come to us with concerns and partner with us. Safety issues are a particular concern, however, because the negative impact of misinformation is not simply a negative emotional stress for teachers, staff, and leaders, it could impact the safety of staff and students. We always want to partner cooperatively with our local law enforcement and put them in the best position to help keep us safe. To that end, we will work cooperatively with them regarding information dissemination.
- Model Healthy Behavior: Setting and maintaining boundaries and being willing to navigate our kids’ being unhappy with us is a hallmark of strong parenting. I believe we sometimes undervalue the importance of simply modeling what we want. We want our kids to be positive people who build up their community (team, school, town, work, etc) and have resilience. We have to model that.
Mental Health and Well-being
Our school is committed to supporting the mental health of our students and staff. If your child is struggling with stress, anxiety, or confusion stemming from social media, please reach out to our school counselors. We’re also focusing on integrating media literacy into our curriculum, so students develop the critical thinking skills they need to navigate digital platforms effectively.
We encourage parents to explore resources like Common Sense Media (www.commonsensemedia.org), which offers valuable tools for managing screen time, understanding social media, and fostering healthy digital habits.
A Positive School Environment
By working together, we can create a school environment where both students and staff feel supported and safe from the potential harms of misinformation. It is our goal to help students focus on learning, growing, and becoming informed, engaged citizens in a digital world. Yes, we will also challenge our students and work to get each of them out of their comfort zone so they maximize their personal growth to set themselves up for lifelong success.
Thank you for your continued support and collaboration. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me or any of our staff. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students.
Sincerely,
Tony Helfrich