Schoology’s Bulletin Board has long served as an online hub for students to share information about events, school reminders and even the occasional lost item (AirPods, anyone?). However, the rules for using the platform can be difficult to find, unless students want to look deep into Urban’s Student-Family Handbook. According to the Student Handbook’s current rules, “[Urban] encourages communication through posted notices and the electronic Bulletin Board, Schoology. Student posts on the electronic Bulletin Board are reviewed for appropriate content.”
Although Schoology is a familiar outlet for student interaction, a need to clarify its purpose and guidelines has come up in recent years.
While students utilize Schoology to stay informed and engaged, Urban’s administration and faculty believe that the student body needs a clearer understanding of the Bulletin Board’s usage rules. “We’re trying to work, as students and as adults, to figure out the message that we need to share to clarify what Schoology is for,” said Jason Ernest Feldman, dean of equity and inclusion.
According to Feldman, Schoology is a place for communication between Urban’s Page and Oak campuses as well as the general school community. “[Schoology is for] lost retainers and AirPod cases,” he said. “Because we’re two different campuses and so many schedules are different, it’s more of a space for people to communicate things that are happening at the school.”
Some students disagree with Feldman’s interpretation. Though Ella Braverman ‘27 agrees that the rules can be confusing for students, Schoology mainly serves as a general space for community updates both in and outside of school.
“I think the purpose of Schoology is to share information, and a way to get information out to the whole school community,” said Braverman. “I’ve seen a lot of Schoology posts that aren’t school-related and that weren’t punished or called out. So I’m not entirely sure what the parameters are for.”
Meanwhile, others have a different idea of the Bulletin Board’s purpose. “It’s [intended] to give the school a bigger sense of community because it’s a place where everybody can reach each other,” said Emma Spivak ‘27.
Alongside Urban’s administration, Conduct Review, a team of students dedicated to providing a student perspective on disciplinary issues, are reviewing specific Schoology rules so that students can understand what they can and cannot post on the Bulletin Board.
Administration feels that one of the key misunderstandings of acceptable Schoology practice surrounds the purpose of discussion.
“I think [a] discussion is a space where people are … consenting to be part of [something] … that [they] have agreed to prior to the discussion,” said Feldman. “I don’t necessarily think that’s what Schoology is [for].”
Conduct Review Member Theo Nielson ‘24 said, “I think that [Schoology] can and should be used to advertise meetings, protests and places for discussion, but making broader statements on current events often seems to create more division and having a culture around that could be dangerous and lose sight of Urban’s values and purpose as a school.”
However, according to Spivak, Schoology does not make sense as a place for discussion. “Using Schoology is the same as just picking up a microphone and yelling at your school. It’s the same vibe. That’s not … the place to have a serious discussion,” she said.
“The Urban School does not want our [Schoology] Bulletin Board to be like Twitter,” said Assistant Dean of Student Life Charlotte Worsley. “We don’t want conversations to happen on the Bulletin Board, we want them to happen in person.”
Because of recent discussions that have taken place, looking over the rules to try and clarify them more is a current priority for Conduct Review and Urban’s administration.
“I [have] had to remind people enough times about discussions in the past couple of months, [like] picking on freshmen who were leaving messes. Then, more recently, around the Middle East topic,” said Worsley. “I was like, ‘Okay, now we really have to just get some clarity about these discussions.’”
Some students believe that Schoology is a necessary forum to spread the word about issues they are passionate about, regardless of whether it sparks controversy within Urban.
“Ideally, we’d be able to have in-person, open [and] honest conversations with [students] … but in the absence of that, Schoology has been the best possible way for us to reach a school community,” said Braverman.
As the world outside of Urban evolves, so do the ways students conduct discussions at Urban. “People can go talk to their grade dean, they can go talk to the school counselor; I mean, we have so many adults to talk to,” said Worsley. “I think that one of the fundamental core values of Urban life is a partnership with students and faculty.”
