BTA welcomes guardrails on student, teacher messaging

The Brandon School Division will review its existing procedures governing interactions between school staff and students to ensure they align with a new provincial directive banning one-to-one online communications through unmonitored platforms.

The Manitoba government announced the directive Friday, requiring publicly funded schools and school divisions to revise their digital communication policies to strengthen student safety.

The directive prohibits school employees from communicating or interacting with students through personal social media accounts, private messaging applications, texting or messaging features on social networking platforms.

BSD created a procedure regarding safe student and staff interactions that incorporated many of the items in the provincial announcement last year, Supt. Jon Zilkey said.

“Brandon School Division will review all aspects of the provincial announcement to ensure our procedure is in alignment, make any necessary changes, and communicate that to our stakeholders,” he told the Sun.

The emphasis on using approved school division platforms for communication is welcomed, Brandon Teachers’ Association president Sandra Thompson said.

“I stress the importance of using divisional platforms for communication,” Thompson said. “I feel this move provides transparency for parents and helps teachers avoid compromising situations.”

She said Microsoft Teams and SeeSaw are examples of platforms approved by the Brandon School Division for staff-student communications.

The provincial directive allows exceptions when alternative arrangements are necessary to support a student’s safety, accessibility, well-being or learning needs. Such arrangements must be approved in advance by school administration, with parents or caregivers included in the communication or informed about it, the province stated in a press release issued on Friday.

The rules are intended to ensure parents and school leaders can maintain appropriate oversight of communications between educators and students, Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt said.

“Teachers have to be able to talk to their students about school. But there should never be a reason to hide that conversation from the eyes of parents or school leaders,” Schmidt said.

“Families should be able to expect that any time a teacher talks to their students, it’s about school.”

Exceptions may also apply where existing family or personal relationships exist between school employees and students.

The province said schools must communicate any revisions to their guidelines to students, staff and families.

The online tools can support classroom learning but must be used responsibly, Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said.

“Reinforcing clear boundaries when communicating online fosters a safe learning environment in which students can thrive,” McDonald said. “This directive is a step forward in better safeguarding youth.”

The Manitoba government said it will continue working with school divisions to ensure schools remain safe, supportive and inclusive environments for students.

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