School Board hires law firm to review Prince William Superintendent’s Twitter interactions with students

The Prince William County School Board hired an outside law firm to review Superintendent Steven L. Walt’s Twitter communications with students.

“The School Board is aware of the allegations recently asserted against the Divison Superintendent. In response to the filing of these complaints, early last month the School Board retained an independent outside firm to conduct an external review of Dr. Walts’ official twitter account to determine the validity of the allegations and provide the Board with a confidential report,” a statement read from Diana Gulotta, Director of Communication Services.

Potomac Local News has learned the private law firm was retained to review Walts’ Twitter account in early March. It is expected to make a recommendation to the full School Board on how to address Walt’s behavior on the social media platform.

Walts did not respond to an interview request for this story.

He has developed a strong presence on Twitter with over 30,000 followers. In recent years, he’s developed a likable personality on Twitter, sharing videos of himself playing piano while announcing school closures in cases of inclement weather. 

He is known for posting videos of him singing when there are school closures and is highly praised by students who commonly refer to Walts as “the GOAT” and “King.”

Walts frequently will interact with students in the comments of his posts, responding to them and liking their responses. Many interactions have occurred after 11 p.m.

Prince William County Public Schools Policy 503.02-1 provides guidance and regulations for school district employees’ electronic communications with students. Walts, as superintendent, is a hired employee of the school board. 

“Except as provided herein, employees shall not communicate with students using cell phone and other personal electronic forms of communication, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Snapchat, and texting,” the policy states. 

Additionally, the policy outlines that employees should not “access” students’ personal social media accounts.

Of the 944 Twitter users Walts follows, at least 80 of the accounts are the personal accounts of students. 

In an independent review, Potomac Local News classified accounts as “student accounts” only if it has the user’s school information in the bio or if the user explicitly tweeted about their high school, so the 80 accounts is a very conservative estimate. 

Many students have tweeted at Walts directly asking him to follow their accounts, like the tweets below. 

Walts has been the Superintendent of Prince William County Public Schools for 15 years.

Over time, he has become one of the highest-paid public school superintendents in Virginia, raking in a $430,752 salary with benefits, according to Bristow Beat. He just received a pay raise last year.