Yes, but it should only be used to share basic factual information like reminders about meeting dates or seeing who can attend upcoming training. An app like this should never be used to make decisions or discuss governor business.
Some clerks set up an admin-only WhatsApp group. Only the group admin can send messages, so the clerk can contact governors quickly without the danger that everyone starts discussing topics that should be raised at meetings.
Alternatively, a standard WhatsApp group allows all group members to send messages. This could allow governors to, for example, send apologies and ask where to find documents, but governors must understand the group cannot be used for discussions.
Why use WhatsApp instead of email or GovernorHub?
Many schools prefer their governors to use school email addresses rather than a personal email address. This is because they worry about GDPR and freedom of information or subject access requests.
Using a school email address avoids these possible problems but it also creates a new problem, because governors now have yet another email account to check when most people have at least one or two already.
GovernorHub offers an alternative to using school emails, but if your school does not pay for a subscription you won’t have access to GovernorHub.
What could WhatsApp be used for?
The governing body or clerk could use a WhatsApp group to:
- check which governors are available to attend short notice extraordinary meetings or panels (eg: exclusions or complaints panels)
- give apologies for absence or lateness
- ask governors to log in to their school email accounts – this sounds daft but it can be an effective way to flag urgent emails without using personal email accounts or expecting governors to check their school email account every day
- help people log into virtual meetings
- check how many governors are coming to a meeting to ensure you will be quorate
- cancel meetings at the last minute
- send reminders of training dates or governor visits
- share an emergency message saying OFSTED are coming.
Remember that governors are volunteers and must be allowed to mute notifications for periods of time. No-one should expect instant replies or anything close to that and WhatsApp must not be the only way information is shared as not everyone has a smartphone or will wish to use the app.
Consider not adding school employees to the group, as governors who are also school employees will likely check work emails much more frequently than others and probably won’t need the extra alerts.
Make sure the group is named appropriately, so something like “Governor Reminders” rather than “Governor Discussions”. Add a note to say how the group should be used.
You should also make sure it does not cause extra unpaid work for the clerk, as most clerks are paid for a very limited number of hours and any extra communication can eat into that time.
What should WhatsApp not be used for?
Boards and clerks should not use WhatsApp to:
- make decisions
- discuss any governor business – anything that would usually be discussed in a meeting must still be discussed in that meeting
- share confidential information or data
- bombard people with messages or constant requests for action.
If governors do start slipping into discussions or trying to make decisions on WhatsApp the clerk or chair should step in to point out the many pitfalls of this.
Pitfalls include the lack of a quorum, the lack of minutes, the lack of recorded actions and assigned responsibilities, the possibility of a freedom of information or subject access request and the fact that any governor who doesn’t happen to read those messages will be unfairly excluded from the discussions.
Do freedom of information requests really apply to personal accounts?
Yes. If you think about it this makes sense because otherwise organisations could hide all kinds of nefarious doings just by using a personal email address or WhatsApp group on their personal smartphone.
Section 84 of The Freedom of Information Act defines what is meant by “information”. The definition is “information recorded in any form“, so there is no difference between an email a governor sends from a school email account or from a personal Gmail or Yahoo account.
The Information Commissioner’s Office specifically say that a WhatsApp group or private email account could contain information that might be requested under FOI law.
“This means that official information held on a public authority’s behalf could be contained in a number of non-corporate channels or locations, including:
ICO Guidance on Official Information Held in Non-Corporate Communications Channels
- in private email accounts, eg: Gmail, ProtonMail or Yahoo Mail
- in private messaging accounts, eg: WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram
- direct messages sent on apps such as Twitter or via Facebook messenger
- on private mobile devices, including text messages on mobile phones and voice recordings.”