Many people in our community, including MHS students, teachers, and now the school itself, use Twitter as a reliable source of information, as MHS now has a new Twitter account.

Principal Dr. Barbara Williams explained that the MHS Twitter account is used to “post information for students to use on deadlines, building emergencies and news.” @MHSMassapequa is used strictly as “an information highway for the students to access at any appropriate time they want to.”

Twitter was the obvious choice for the school to use in terms of social media contact because of its high usage by teenagers and young adults.

“It is my job to know what kids are doing in the school in terms of how they communicate with one another,” Dr. Williams said, “and if I need to contact my students, I should use the best means of communication possible.”

During its initial implementation, the account was unable to be used by students due to Twitter being blocked on school networks. However, the school was undergoing some Wi-Fi security changes, causing many websites that students have used in the past to be blocked from the network.

This angered many students because on April 25th, the @MHSMassapequa account was was announced as an “up and running tool for students to access” and yet the in-school Wi-Fi wasn’t allowing students to access Twitter and other social media accounts in the prior weeks.

Mr. Robert Schilling, Executive Director of Assessment, Student Data and Technologies Services, further explained that the major blockage occurred in the weeks prior to the “filter tool change” created to help protect the server firewall in a more efficient way.

“The issues are only temporary and once the district finishes reconfiguring the network, these issues will subside in the coming weeks,” Mr. Schilling said.
Dr. Williams and Mr. Schilling, however, were adamant on Twitter being the only social media site that the MHS Wi-Fi will allow.

“Students need to be comfortable with the technology they use in order to get in touch with us, and we want all of the students here at MHS to use the most efficient tools possible,” Mr. Schilling explained. “The more sites we allow students to access, the less efficient the network’s bandwidth will be.”

This means that the use of websites and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Kik and Vine will not be permitted by the school network.

“Any websites of educational value that have been blocked can be unblocked if approved by administration,” Dr. Williams explained. “However, for the record we are a very liberal school district in the sense that we allow our students to utilize many sources… these sites hold educational value and if monitored properly, we can keep the local internet safe for the students.”

@MHSMassapequa is now fully functionally and has gained many student followers. As time goes on, the school district may upgrade what it uses to keep in contact with students but as of now, @MHSMassapequa and Twitter are here for the long haul.