Social Media Terms & Conditions

  I.  PHILOSOPHY
 
Social media is an important tool for facilitating community engagement, encouraging collaborative communications, and enhancing education. Maryland School for the Deaf believes that social media can be used professionally to foster relationships with the community, model positive digital citizenship for staff and students, and promote and celebrate campus and student success.
 II.  PURPOSE
 
The purpose of the Maryland School for the Deaf (MSD) official social media platforms is to provide information about our school in a timely and efficient manner. The following social media terms and conditions apply to any official MSD social media page (i.e. social media platforms, social networks, blogs, photo sharing, wikis, online forums, and video sharing etc.). These terms and conditions provide anyone who chooses to communicate with Maryland School for the Deaf via its official social media platforms with guidelines for engagement. Please note that public comments posted on official MSD social media pages may not be regularly monitored. MSD therefore encourages anyone with specific questions or concerns involving a school matter to contact their Chief Educational Programs Officer or the Director of Public Relations. Public comments expressed on MSD social media pages do not reflect the opinions and position of the Maryland School for the Deaf Board of Trustees, MSD, and its employees. 
III.  COMMENT REMOVAL
 
Maryland School for the Deaf considers its social media platforms to be a limited public forum. As a result, MSD reserves the right to remove comments that contain:
      • Conduct that violates the terms and conditions of the applicable social media platform (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
      • Illegal conduct or encouragement of illegal activity
      • Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates prohibited discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation
      • Conduct that is threatening, inciting, harassing, or bullying
      • Content that is unrelated to the original MSD post
      • Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party, such as copyright or trademark infringement
      • Information that is false
      • Content that compromises the safety or security of MSD, staff, or students
      • Personnel information, individually identifiable student information, or other confidential material
      • Profane language or content
      • Promotions of services or products
      • Promotions of political candidates or organizations
      • Sexual harassment or sexual content
      • Solicitations of commerce or advertisements including promotion or endorsement
      • Spam or comments that include links to external online sites
      • Conduct that is otherwise in violation of MSD policy/procedure or that reasonably may lead to the substantial disruption of or material interference with MSD school operations.
Comments in violation of these terms and conditions may be removed from the applicable MSD official social media platform. Continued or egregious violations may prompt MSD to further restrict an individual's commenting on official MSD social media platforms. MSD will not remove content simply because it disagrees with the user's viewpoint.
 
Note: If the information is sensitive in nature, MSD reserves the right to remove content, however will share your concerns with the appropriate MSD personnel.
 IV.  RELATED PROCEDURE
 
Employee Use of Social Media
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE HISTORY
  • Reviewed: August 2022
  • Adopted: January 9, 2023
  • Revised: August 2023 (titles/positions)