On a typical day, Huntsville, Al., flies under the national radar. The city is usually only mentioned when there are deadly tornados in the area, or that one time George Bush visited.

Recently, however, Huntsville City Schools (HCS) have been exploited in the posts such as The Washington Times since their policy on monitoring students’ social media accounts was revealed. In May of 2013, after receiving word there was a threat to the school posted on Twitter, Huntsville City Schools decided to silently begin the Students Against Fear (SAFE) act in January.

A social media student enthusiast here at Bob Jones was quick to talk about her opinion on monitoring students’ accounts. “It’s an invasion of privacy,” she said, “I think social media accounts should be their own business.” She went on to mention that she had faced punishment for her social media posts at a Madison City school before.

It is clear the students being watched under policies like this have a very different opinion than the teachers and staff members, aware of what rules it takes to be a technologically safe school.

“In order for school districts to receive certain federal funding, we are required to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA),” said Mr. Aaron New, the Madison City coordinator of technology infrastructure. New went on to explain that unless the districts follow the CIPA, which includes blocking obscene photographs encompassing tweets and Instagram posts, they do not receive funding.

HSC may have not gained such attention for what seems like a logical act, but it was in their denial to an Alabama Senator for more information about their program that led to national stories. It was also revealed this SAFE program has led to disciplining more than 20 students in HCS, many of them facing expulsion.

Some administrators, such as Mrs. Thaxton, have not yet witnessed the potential danger of social media. “I’m sure [cyber bullying] happens, but I have not dealt with it.”

Mrs. Huskey, an administrator here at Bob Jones High School, is in the midst of her digital citizenship project that is being created to encourage and support students in using social media in the true way it was intended.

On the contrary to popular belief, the school board does not monitor specific use of social media on an everyday basis, says Mr. New. “Social media has, at time, dramatically increased the internet bandwidth requirements of the district, and the usage may not always be academic in nature,” Mr. New said, voicing that the concern of social media is not always its obscenity, but how much bandwidth it takes up that limits the data left for educational purposes.

There have been times as a community during which we have all been affected by in-school violence, such as the shooting at Discovery Middle School in 2010, and in rare cases, social media posts can help stop these. Each side of the argument on social media has its points, but there is one aspect neither side can deny- there needs to be a clear line between monitoring for safety and when monitoring accounts becomes an invasion of privacy.