HOWELL — The Howell K-8 School District Board of Education has voted to establish a Facebook page in order to help get information about local schools out to parents .
According to Howell Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden, after a lot of discussion there was general support for the “push component” that Facebook would deliver, allowing the board to get information about the schools out to parents and other residents of the community.
Golden initially said her primary concern was allowing people to post comments on the school district’s Facebook page. She was concerned that if someone posted an inappropriate message on the page late at night, no one would be online to remove it until the morning.
In the end, “Our recommendation is that it’s [Facebook] a good idea and we should go with it,” Golden said at the Dec. 15 board meeting.
The administration’s recommendation was to establish a Facebook page with limited use. Administrators will monitor the page and could open it up for use by individual Howell schools at a later date.
The school district’s Facebook page will be used solely as a push mechanism to get information to the public. No one will be able to post comments to the page at this time.
A motion to establish a Howell K-8 School District Facebook page was approved in an 8-1 vote, with board President Mary Cerretani voting no.
There was also a short discussion at the Dec. 15 meeting to clear up a misunderstanding regarding the topic of Howell schools’ implementing a school uniform policy for students.
Although some parents in the district were under the impression that the board had voted to require pupils to wear a school uniform, that was not the case, board member Sherry Roses said.
The board members briefly discussed the difference between a school uniform and a dress code.
According to the discussion, requirements for a uniform would be strict and see children in similar outfits, possibly including a school district logo. A dress code would involve district officials agreeing on a type of outfit pupils would wear, for example, khaki pants and a polo shirt.
Golden said parents may be surveyed to gauge their opinions on this issue.
— Christina Haberstroh