Recently, a new set of restrictions have been imposed upon all school club accounts. Five new rules have been put into place:
- Students are not allowed to create any club social media accounts. Only the sponsor can set them up.
- Only Pompano Beach High School students and staff may be part of any club social media group. No outside members are allowed for any reason.
- Students cannot post anything on club social media without the sponsor’s approval. This includes announcements, flyers, photos, videos, and comments.
- No student may create any website, page, account, or app that represents Pompano Beach High School or a school club without the principal’s written permission.
- If a club breaks these rules, the club will be shut down for one full year. This is a serious consequence, so every student must follow the guidelines.
One of the most prominent and known mottos about clubs at Pompano is that they are known for being “for students by students.” It is their responsibility to elect officers, find a willing sponsor, control the conduct of the club, bring in funds and push out their club through social media and posters. These new impositions could severely impact how clubs have always been run.
An issue that many clubs seem to be having is with sponsor-student communication. As a member of two-to-three small obscure clubs, I saw the complete loss of their instagram presence, one of the most consistent platforms for reminders, not because it was taken down, but simply because the reminders were being delayed due to needing to be approved and then posted.. One of the clubs,Creative Writing Club, would post frequent reminders for meetings and advertise the fact our club exists whenever the president remembered,but recently with the new limitations, needing to get permission from a sponsor who isn’t always going to prioritize the club (understandably)but is an amazing and willing sponsor was just too much coordination and also took away the ability to send out timely reminders.
On the other hand, bigger clubs like the Thespians Club remained mostly unaffected by the new regulations. On their instagram page, @pbhs.thespians, they continue to promote shows, troupe competitions and general information about their club Although their social media is kept mostly up to date, we did see the loss of their usual count down of days until the play in their latest production, Peter and The Starcatcher, whereas the previous shows had their countdowns for the productions of Mamma Mia, Spongebob The Musical and Puffs.