Social Media Guidelines

The following guidelines apply to social media accounts connected to Horizon School Division:

Comments or messages that violate the terms of use will not be tolerated and will result in the removal of the comment and possible banning of the user. These terms of use establish guidelines and expectations for members of the public to engage Horizon School Division in social media dialogue responsibly.

Horizon School Division in no way verifies or confirms the accuracy of user comments. Horizon School Division does not endorse any comments posted by users. Comments that violate these terms of use may result in deletion of the comment and blocking of the user to prevent further inappropriate comments.

Commenting

Horizon School Division welcomes comments from the public on our posts and expects that conversations will be respectful. We reserve the right to edit or remove any comments that are:

• obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, racist, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting, life-threatening, discriminatory, or hateful;

• serious, unproven, unsupported, or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations including Horizon School Division, the Board of Education, schools, departments, staff members, students, parents, SCCs and associated groups.

• abusive, aggressive, coarse, explicit, vulgar, violent or obscene;

• personal attacks and/or defamatory statements;

• false/unproven claims or information shared from an unverified or unreliable source;

• encourage or suggest illegal activity;

• disrespectful of the privacy of others;

• solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency;

• repetitive posts copied and pasted by one or multiple users;

• unintelligible or irrelevant messages;

• posted anonymously or by robot accounts, or not sent by the author;

• too far off-topic; and

• any other message Horizon School Division believes is inappropriate or does not add to the conversation.

Users who continually act contrary to these terms of reference will be warned and may be temporarily or permanently banned from Horizon’s social media channels.

Please note:

• While we will do our best to respond to questions posted, we cannot guarantee that we will provide a response.

• Questions about your child’s personal education should be directed to their teacher, school principal or the appropriate professional.

• Reporters are asked to refer any questions directly to the Communications Officer

Privacy

Prior to using any social media platform you must agree to the terms of service agreements and/or data policies established by these sites. Such agreements may include collecting your content and communications to improve services and/or share with third party partners.

Horizon School Division encourages all individuals to read the privacy policy associated with the social media platform they are using regarding the use of personal information posted on that site. Horizon School Division does not own content shared on social media platforms and cannot guarantee the security, privacy or future use of any information shared. Users are solely responsible for the information provided to Horizon School Division on social media platforms. Please contact your local school or the division office with questions or concerns about your child’s education.