Director of Elementary Education Violates Social Media Policy?

We believe Director of Elementary Education Julie Droller’s X/Twitter account (@drollerjulie) is in clear violation of the Darien Public School’s Social Media Policy (#4400). In our view, she has run afoul of the policy no matter whether her social media account is considered a “District-Sponsored Account” or a “Personal Account.” 

On her X/Twitter page, Ms. Droller refers to herself as “Director of Elementary Education”, cites her location as “Darien, CT”, and links to the “www.darienps.org” website. Ms. Droller in her Darien Public Schools email signature also specifically cites her X/Twitter account. 

Additionally, she features events within Darien schools and has multiple pictures of elementary students participating in activities. The account is public and is available for any X/Twitter user to access. 

In our view, Ms. Droller's X/Twitter account potentially conflicts with the following policies:

District-Sponsored Account

#3 ...The employee must set up the page for the school-based activity as a group list which will be "closed” (e.g. membership in the group is limited

to students, parents and appropriate school personnel), and “monitored”(e.g. the employee has the ability to access and supervise communications
on the social media site). Notwithstanding these requirements, the employee may allow for public access to a part of the page that is strictly
limited to providing the name and a general description of the school based activity."

Ms. Droller's account is public and is available for any X/Twitter user to access. It is not "closed."

#8 An employee may not link a district-sponsored social media page to any personal online account or sites not sponsored by the school district. For the purposes of this Paragraph 8, linking includes tagging any individual, business or entity that is not affiliated with the school district.  

Ms. Droller's page has multiple retweets and reposts to entities that are not affiliated with the school district including, but not limited to, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and seemingly dozens of other X/Twitter accounts.

#9 An employee may not use district-sponsored social media or Board-issued electronic accounts for communications for private financial gain, political, commercial, advertisement, proselytizing or solicitation purposes.

Ms. Droller's account has multiple links and posts related to politics, including ones highlighting the 2024 Democratic National Convention, a video of U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking about organized labor issues, anti-racist curriculum, abortion rights, pro-gun control posts/articles/videos, white supremacy, booking burning, and a post written by Ms. Droller stating "Trump is Losing It."

Since Ms. Droller references her position and the Darien Public Schools website in her X/Twitter bio and does not specifically state these are her own personal political views in her posts, does this mean these views reflect those of Darien Public Schools or the Administration?

Additionally, Ms. Droller's account contains pictures and videos of dozens of elementary school students. Did their parents or legal guardians give permission via Aspen opt-in for her to post these?

Personal Account

#2 An employee may not mention, discuss, reference or link to the Board of Education, the school district or its individual schools, programs or teams using personal online accounts or other sites or applications in a manner that could reasonably be construed as an official school district communication, unless the employee also states within the communication that such communication is the personal view of the employee of the school district and that the views expressed are the employee’s alone and do not represent the views of the school district or the Board of Education...

As highlighted above, Ms. Droller's X/Twitter account contains no disclosure that the views expressed are her own personal views and do not reflect the district or Board of Education despite specifically referencing her role within the district and linking to the district's public webpage at the top of her X/Twitter page.

Disciplinary Consequences

The social media policy states: "Violation of the Board’s policy concerning the use of social media or these administrative regulations may lead to discipline up to and including the termination of employment consistent with state and federal law." 

Will Superintendent Dr. Alan Addley ensure there is accountability if Ms. Droller has indeed violated one or more items related to the policy? 

Given her DPS work email signature directly references her X/Twitter account, why has nobody in the Administration or Board of Education who presumably communicate regularly with her noticed this or flagged this potential issue?

As a more senior figure within the Administration with oversight of five elementary schools, what precedent does it set when -- in our view -- Ms. Droller has so flagrantly disregarded DPS policy?