David James

May 11, 2021

Local Montessori school: we cannot opt out of social media

The Montessori School of Westminster (MSW) in Maryland does not provide a guarantee that children's images will not be posted to Facebook.

This is disappointing and unacceptable.

  • Online privacy is an essential component of trust in an educational program. How is compromising children's privacy compatible with the goals of MSW?
  • Parents pay money and formally agree to certain policies. Why doesn't MSW reciprocate and formally agree to protecting children's online privacy?
  • Our kiddo has attended many different daycare programs. All have had reasonable social media policies. On what ethical basis should MSW be different?
  • Facebook's track record for privacy is abysmal. On it, people are the product used to profile people and sell advertisements to others.
  • There are better ways to promote MSW than Facebook. For example, there are closed-group photo sharing sites.

Our family is disappointed. We won't be enrolling.