Is Social Media an Appropriate Avenue for Making Practice Public?

I currently serve as the Director of Education Technology in a mid-sized public school district. As such, I feel a keen duty to spend public funds responsibly and in a manner that would be pleasing to the vast majority of those tax-payers who provide for the students in our care.

Because my department is in the business of technology and because technology lives in constant flux, I receive my share of requests for technology purchases: by teachers, by staff members, and even by principals in the schools I serve.


What do you think would happen if I required that all requests for purchases be made with a publicly-viewable account on Twitter or other social network? (Even though school district spending records are already publicly available, I don't think they're frequently reviewed.)

  • Do you think requiring openness when making purchase requests would be worthwhile? 
  • Would it potentially cause more issues than it might alleviate? 
  • Would it save money? 
Finally, if the public scrutinized your spending habits, would they understand why you've purchased the things you have? Would they agree that your spending habits are sound?

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