THIS MAY COME as a surprise to my superintendent colleagues: Two or three times a month, I share the login credentials to my social media accounts (Twitter and Instagram) with students and ask them to relay their experiences and thinking freely.

What good could possibly come from this risky behavior on my part?

Actually, the upsides are plenty.

Shaping Initiatives
In the Ithaca City School District, our vision is to produce 6,000-plus young thinkers. Thinking is the cornerstone of creative ideas and problem solving, individual and organizational learning, interpersonal and intrapersonal communications, and all social change.

Further, our district’s formal mission is to Engage, Educate and Empower. For each E, we want a common mental model for what it means and looks like in practice. When it comes to empower, our school community seeks to provide voice and choice to all learners.

One way I contribute comes through the Superintendent Student Advisory Council, a group of approximately 30 middle and high school students that meets monthly with me to discuss internet filtering, dress codes, co-curricular offerings, class size, race relations and other meaningful topics. I established the council in 2011 during my first months as superintendent. Since then, these student-led discussions have helped shape some of our major organizational initiatives and continuous improvement efforts.

With a desire to act on our district’s mission to empower learners, the Superintendent Student Advisory Council requested access to my social media feeds as a way to share students’ stories and enhance student experiences in our schools. I enthusiastically embraced this innovative suggestion as I knew the students’ authentic voices would be able to tell stories in ways that I had not been able to convey.

For the past three years, individual students have used my Twitter and Instagram accounts for a full day at least twice every month to share their perspectives on the school day, their needs and their visions for the future with folks all over the world (I have 5,000 Twitter followers) as they’ve done privately with me for years. Their insights not only inform our work locally, but they also contribute to the national conversation about making our schools student-centered and, ultimately, improved.

Cautionary Steps
Is letting students take over my social media accounts unnerving? You bet! But I’ve been able to ensure the takeovers remain safe, fun and effective by taking the following actions:

» I change my password prior to turning over my social feeds to a student and again when I regain control of the feeds.

» I ask students to use their first few tweets/posts to introduce themselves with personal stories, a description of their accomplishments and other background information.

» I ask students to use a special hashtag to delineate their tweets from my own. Typically, they use their first and last initial coupled with the word “Thoughts.” (For example, a student named Simon Barley would use the hashtag #SBThoughts.)

» I trust students to take the reins. As such, I do not provide parameters as our young people are typically fluent in social media and have important stories to share. I encourage students to use their voice in a way that is consistent with our code of conduct while using slang, emojis and a language that is consistent with their culture.

Shedding New Light
Giving students access to my social feeds allows them to express their views on various aspects of our school district, both good and bad. For example, students have shared examples of how they’ve been marginalized and/or experienced sexism, classism and racism in our schools. Their posts highlight the exceptional and positive accomplishments of the Ithaca schools and shed light on the institutionally oppressive policies, practices and biases that exist in our organization.

Most importantly, the access to their superintendent’s social media accounts provides students in Ithaca with an effective way to amplify their voices and impact systemic change.
LUVELLE BROWN is superintendent of the Ithaca City Public Schools in Ithaca, N.Y. Twitter: @luvelleb