Youth sports leagues that use Santa Maria facilities will be subject to a zero tolerance policy on cyberbullying if a proposed city ordinance moves forward.
Pitched by the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Commission, the protocol is primarily geared toward adults involved with youth sports groups rather than its participants, as it was drafted in response to “a surge in the abuse of staff members, game officials, commissioners, and parents through social media platforms,” according to the staff report.
Recreation and Parks Director Alex Posada presented an early draft of the proposal during the commission’s June 13 meeting, two months after introducing the concept at a prior meeting.
“We have these groups that use our facilities free of charge, generally speaking, and don’t like something that we’ve done or haven’t done or aren’t able to do, and so you end up getting in these situations where social media is kind of used as the tool to beat us up,” Posada said at the commission’s April 11 meeting.
Without detailing specific instances, Posada said that the city’s Recreation and Parks Department has been “very cognizant of the issue of harassment within our own ranks” over the past several months, and the target of “unsavory comments” from leadership and other individuals involved with local youth sports leagues via email and social media posts.
Posada said that he researched code of conduct practices at various sports facilities across the country but didn’t come across many that enforced social media guidelines.
“We could certainly be trailblazers in that regard and create one,” Posada said.
During its June 13 meeting, the Recreation and Parks Commission reviewed Posada’s initial proposal, which expanded on the intent of the policy.
“Considering the constantly evolving influence of social media on our daily lives, the Recreation and Parks Department and Commission acknowledge that the norms of basic courtesy are frequently disregarded,” Posada wrote in the proposal. “This has resulted in the dissemination of numerous hurtful and false statements, directly or indirectly impacting the well-being of young individuals participating in programs and services offered by youth-oriented organizations.
“The perceived freedom on these platforms has allowed individuals to engage in spreading various forms of misinformation and unsubstantiated accusations,” Posada wrote. “These abuses range from questioning the integrity of game officials to spreading false accusations of vandalism and misuse of authority.”
Posada also wrote that the proposed policy “is not intended to curb the rights of individuals to express their concerns but rather direct their concerns to a venue where they can be discussed and resolved in a beneficial manner for the good of the program.”
The proposal outlines levels of discipline to enforce the policy, aimed at “key stakeholders” within different youth sports groups that utilize city-owned sports facilities. If the ordinance passes, future violators of the policy would be subject to fines, ranging between $100 and $500, and loss of facility- or field-use privileges.
Posada’s draft of the potential policy describes its violators as the presenters of “misinformation; inflammatory, biased content; and/or unsportsmanlike conduct on all forms of social media platforms, email, and text messaging.” Enforcement of the policy would be conducted on a complaint basis, with complaint forms available on the Recreation and Parks Department’s website.
The current draft of the proposed policy is being reviewed by the city attorney’s office and will be brought back before the Recreation and Parks Commission for any additional revisions, and later before the Santa Maria City Council for consideration.
—Caleb Wiseblood
This article appears in Jun 22 – Jul 2, 2023.