Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A parent in Hartland Consolidated Schools is raising concerns about recent changes to no longer allow public comments on its social media pages – a move district officials are defending.

Hartland Parent Jeff Scott raised concerns about what he views as a Freedom of Speech violation after comments were recently disabled on the district-run Facebook and Instagram social media pages. Scott said he’s since submitted two complaints about the change and based on that and some other issues, is running for a seat on the Board of Education this year. He said he believes that “transparency is a vital component of our process and hopes that Hartland Consolidated Schools reconsiders its decision to shut parents out of that process”.

Scott provided the following comment:

“I have reviewed all of the School District Facebook pages in Livingston County along with the top 10 Public Districts in the State and have not found a single example of a District restricting Facebook comments. Conversely, I found many districts, such as Pinckney, that used their Facebook page very effectively to create a line of communication with parents and community members. Furthermore, while I agree that a District does have the ability to create one way communication with parents, I do not believe they have the ability to discontinue two way communication after over a decade as Hartland has with their Facebook page. They have created a Public Forum as recognized by the US Supreme Court and under the First Amendment they cannot close down that public forum just because some parents have challenged their decision making. I am also struck by the fact that the decision to shut down public comments contradicts with the Social Media Policy that they have linked on the bottom of the District homepage”.


The district has defended the decision. Superintendent Chuck Hughes told WHMI:
“Under Board Policy 7540.02 (f) our social media sites are permitted to be nonpublic forums. The District has decided not to continue soliciting public comments on the information shared. The district has never viewed social media as a two-way communication process and does not have someone in charge of monitoring comments. There are many ways for people to express comments such as written letters, email, phone calls, in-person meetings, regularly scheduled Board of Education meetings, etc. By turning comments off for everyone, the action does not violate individual rights as no individual has been targeted with restrictions and no past comments were deleted. It also serves to assist District social media to be an avenue to communicate directly with the public without unnecessary distraction and unhelpful disinformation”.


Insight was also sought on the matter from local superintendents and the Michigan Association of School Boards.

MASB Legal Counsel Brad Banasik told WHMI when looking at it from a risk management perspective, having social media sites be a “non-public” forum is the best practice. He says if a designated public forum is created - meaning not required to create a public forum but designating your social media site as a public forum by allowing interactive communications – then districts risk possibly violating someone’s First Amendment rights by blocking an individual based on their comments or taking down a comment because it’s felt the communication may be inappropriate or that it crosses the line. Banasik says that’s when districts are put in a place about keeping comments out there or retracting them – possibly violating someone's free speech rights by taking down their comments.

Banasik says if a district maintains a one-way social media site where they’re only putting out their own information and not allowing active communications, it won’t violate anyone’s First Amendment rights.

Decisions are left up to individual districts. Banasik said while he hasn’t tracked anything, he would be “willing to bet that there are multiple districts out there that don’t allow comments on their social media platforms because of possible legal risks of violating someone’s 1st amendment rights”.

Meanwhile, Pinckney Community Schools Superintendent Rick Todd told WHMI they do allow the opportunity for comments as he views social media as a tool to not only communicate but to build trusting relationships and transparency. With that being said, Todd said “I have had to disable comments in the past on certain posts when the nature of the discourse became derogative toward staff members or when our platform was being used to promote someone's personal agenda. Just as we do during public comments during board meetings, we can regulate the nature of what is being said to minimize personal attacks and uphold the integrity of our district”.