Digital Smarts - School Districts are Dealing with Social Media Impersonators

Did you receive an update or post from your children’s school on social media that seems a little off? Fake accounts for schools and school districts, and even school administrators, have popped up all over the country. Most of the claims on the sites  - like a feral skunk being loose in a school building that has to be closed and burned down – are so outrageous that most parents spot them or figure out they aren’t coming from the school’s regular communication channels, but these kinds of accounts do pose all kinds of dangers, especially in emergency situations.

Schools are fighting back by sending out clarifying messages on their actual Twitter and Facebook pages and immediately forwarding the fake message to school, school board leaders, and local media to inform them of the issue so they don’t accidently share the false information.