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There’s no debating that the
emergence of Social Media has changed how
the world communicates. Information that
used to take hours or days to disseminate
now takes mere seconds. And while some say
this new method of communication is
positive, caution must be taken before
diving headlong into its use. And for
governmental agencies in Florida, that is a
prudent course of action.
The reason:
Florida’s Public Records law
(Chapter 119, Florida Statutes.)
Under Florida Statutes
119, the public (media, community members)
is given access to government records. It is
important to the School District of Lee
County that our stakeholders understand
their rights to obtain public records.
According to F.S.119 a
public record is defined as the following:
"Public Records"
include all documents, papers, letter,
map, books, tapes, photographs, films,
sound recordings, data processing
software, or other material regardless
of the physical form, characteristics,
or means of transmission, made or
received pursuant to law or ordinance or
in connection with the transaction of
official business by any agency.
If you applied the above
definition to Social Media Web sites, you
can see where the dilemma lies. Because
sites like Facebook and MySpace, by their
very nature, encourage and allow two-way
communication (i.e. “posts” to a Facebook
“wall,”) there is a significant challenge to
archive and maintain any and all postings as
per the Florida Records Retention Schedule.
Because such sites are
outside of the control of the District – or
any other Florida governmental agency for
that matter – and because these sites do not
provide an “archive” feature, trying to keep
and maintain the information can be
cumbersome and potentially unwieldy. In
addition, governmental agencies would be
required to keep all postings, including
anything that is derogatory or defamatory in
nature (they could be removed from the site,
but they must be archived.)
Because of the
far-reaching implications of Chapter 119,
Florida Statutes when it comes to the
maintaining of such information, the School
District of Lee County and all of its
schools currently do NOT have official
Facebook or other social media Web site
pages. If these sites change and allow the
option of either restricting who can post
information on the page or provide an
archive feature that will allow us to comply
with FS119, the status of the District and
its schools may change.
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