PRESS RELEASE

Information regarding school district legal authority to request student passwords

Triad Community Unit School District No. 2, like other school districts in Illinois, is
required to inform parents of the Districts right, as currently provided in state law, to request
social media passwords from students in limited circumstances. The Superintendents office has
received several press inquiries regarding this notice. Certain media reports have taken the letter
out of context and created an unnecessary controversy. The letter sent by the District is
specifically authorized by Illinois law and is based on a model letter provided to Triad by the
Illinois Association of School Boards.
A recent change in Illinois law requires school districts to investigate all instances of
cyber bullying, regardless of where the incident takes place or whether the incident takes place
on school grounds, to determine whether or not the cyber bullying is causing a disruption to the
school environment. That same law expanded a school districts responsibilities with regard to
all kinds of bullying and directed all school districts to adopt policies containing the new
requirements. A copy that the law can be accessed here:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=098-0801.
In addition to the new bullying legislation, the Illinois legislature passed and the
Governor signed, a statute authorizing school districts to obtain social media passwords from
students and states the circumstances under which a school district can request social media
passwords from students. First, a school district must provide notice to parents that there are
circumstances when passwords may be requested. Then, social networking passwords can only
be requested when there is evidence that a student used social networking to violate a school rule
or policy. A copy of that law can be accessed here:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3504&ChapterID=17.
It is pursuant to this law, and a requirement that we provide notice before a school district
can even think about requesting a social media password, that we sent letters out to parents. The
content of the letter is taken from a sample letter provided to us through the Illinois Association
of School Boards PRESS policy service to which most Illinois school districts subscribe.
Triad has not had an instance when its administrators have felt the need to request
passwords for student social media accounts. The Board and administration hope that such a
situation will never arise. However, we can anticipate situations where we might need to see a
social networking site. For example, if a student makes threats on social media to harm the
school or other students, there may be cause for an administrator to ask that student to open his
or her account or share his or her password, particularly before he/she has the chance to delete
the threats. In the same vein, if there is a pervasive bullying issue that needs to be stopped to
avoid harm to a student or group of students or a significant disruption to the school
environment, we may need to request a password to investigate that issue. The District
understands student privacy interests as well and will not haphazardly request social media
passwords unless there is a need and will certainly involve parents throughout the process.

In addition, there has been question about involving police in forcing students to share
social media passwords. The information that has been published is misleading. There would
not be criminal prosecution of a student if the student refused to provide a social media
password. However, in the event of a threat or significant school safety concern or in the event
that criminal activity may be occurring via social networking, the school district would inform
the police in order to ensure the safety of the students involved and the student body as a whole.
The police have their own standards in investigating public safety or criminal misconduct and
would apply those standards in that situation.
In sum, the notification letter sent to parents is specifically authorized by law and is
consistent with language provided to us by the Illinois Association of School Boards. At Triad
school district we take student privacy rights very seriously but those rights must, at times, be
balanced against the needs to maintain a safe school environment for all of our students and staff.
In this instance, the balance has been struck by the Illinois legislature.
Please contact Superintendent Leigh Lewis with questions.