All resources need approval by the Director of Technology to ensure compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) , Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and to ensure compatibility with the district network, systems, and devices.   Any tools that enable communication from staff (teacher/staff/coach/ECA position) to student, student to student, or teacher to parent must use district approved systems.  All tools must include the ability for the Technology Department to perform investigations (discovery and searches), include administrative access, and monitoring capabilities.  Any student account creation must use district approved methods to ensure all cyber security laws and federal/state mandates are in compliance. 

These policies and procedures are needed to protect and safeguard staff/students and to comply with applicable laws.  Many tools have their own requirements, such as age restrictions and parental permission, for example, the service remind.com requires parental permission - https://www.remind.com/terms-of-service.  For communications with students, the District uses Gmail, Google Chat (the smartphone app provides push/alert notifications and the ability to create groups) and Canvas.  

Excerpts from Board Policies:

Policy 824

When available, district-provided email or other district-provided communication devices or platforms shall be used when communicating electronically with students.  The use of district-provided email or other district-provided communication devices or platforms shall be in accordance with district policies and procedures.

Policy 815

Any communication regarding district business must use approved district systems, services, and applications. All staff and administration should be aware that e-mail messages, electronic documents, notes, files or data that reside on computers and other devices, networks, systems, or applications, and any cloud computing service may be subject to document requests both under Pennsylvania’s Right To Know Law and pursuant to FERPA. The guidelines should be followed by all staff and administrators to ensure professionalism in the District’s communications. 

For instructional purposes, the use of all district technology based resources shall be consistent with the curriculum adopted by the district as well as the varied instructional needs, learning styles, abilities, and developmental levels of students. All resources need approval by the Director of Technology to ensure compliance with Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and to ensure compatibility with the district network, systems, and devices.