Social Media Monitoring

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Dear Aldridge School - A Science College, Walsall,

Please find below my FOI request regarding the monitoring of students' private social media accounts:

1. Does your school/institution actively search through students' private social media accounts to:
a) Look for negative comments (i.e. against other students or staff members)
b) Gauge your institution's standards (i.e. the type of feedback your institution receives)
c) Safeguard students' well-being (i.e. to try and spot the early signs of suicidal thoughts)
[Please indicate which of the above you do/don't do.]

2. Does your school/institution employ any kind of software that helps you search through students' private social media accounts for certain comments or images?

3. Does your school/institution have a policy in place which allows for the monitoring of students' private social media accounts?

4. Is your school/institution looking to employ software and/or policies that will enable you to monitor students' private social media accounts in the future?

5. If the answer is "yes" for question 4, what reason is given for this?

Yours faithfully,

Rebecca Moody

James Fendek,

Dear Rebecca Moody

Freedom of Information Request

Further to your request for information about Social Media Monitoring, I can tell you the following:

1. Does your school/institution actively search through students' private social media accounts to:
a) Look for negative comments (i.e. against other students or staff members)
No

b) Gauge your institution's standards (i.e. the type of feedback your institution receives)
No

c) Safeguard students' well-being (i.e. to try and spot the early signs of suicidal thoughts) [Please indicate which of the above you do/don't do.]
Not unless we are alerted to it in the case of suicidal thoughts/self harm

2. Does your school/institution employ any kind of software that helps you search through students' private social media accounts for certain comments or images?
No

3. Does your school/institution have a policy in place which allows for the monitoring of students' private social media accounts?
No - again only if alerted to it

4. Is your school/institution looking to employ software and/or policies that will enable you to monitor students' private social media accounts in the future?
No

5. If the answer is "yes" for question 4, what reason is given for this?

Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by Walsall Council. The copyright in respect of other information may be owned by another person or organisation, as indicated.

You are free to use any information supplied to you in response to this request for your own non-commercial research or private study purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the information in analogue or digital form, including on the internet, will require the permission of the copyright owner.
I hope that the information provided is useful to you. However, if you are dissatisfied, you should set out in writing your grounds for complaint and send to: Complaints Section, Aldridge School, Tynings Lane, Aldridge, Walsall, West Midlands, WS9 0BG.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a decision. Please remember that, generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have first exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the school. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

James Fendek

James Fendek
IT Lead, Trust Data Protection Lead and Communications Officer

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On 07/02/2020, 13:52, "info" <[email address]> wrote:

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