Technology Regulations

There are several regulations that govern the educational use of technology in schools.  One regulation is known as CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act).  CIPA was enacted by Congress in 2000.  You can read more about it here.  Basically, CIPA requires K-12 schools who use E-rate funds to have an Internet Safety Policy in place, block obscene content and work on educating students on how to be safe and appropriate online.  This is not to be confused with COPA which was struck down by the Supreme Court as being in violation of the First Amendment Rights.  You can read more about that here.  Kearsarge does indeed have an Internet Policy, a Responsible Use Policy and a content filter.  We, also, provide ongoing training for students on appropriate use of technology.

Another regulation regarding technology is COPPA (Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act).  COPPA was enacted in 1998 to limit the collection of data gathered by website operators on children under the age of 13 without the consent of parents.  Some technology tools require students to provide their DOB (date of birth) in order to use an account.  If the student is under 13, then a parent is supposed to be included in the sign up process.  If the student is over 13, then the student can proceed.  In our District, we have worked hard to make sure that students aren't using websites that don't comply with COPPA when using technology for educational purposes.

A new regulation for schools is coming as well.  Right now it is being referred to as HB 1612.  You can read more about it here.  Our technology committee has been hard at work gathering the privacy policies of the technology software used in our District.

Over the past two weeks, I have gone to each cluster to discuss with students that going forward, we have to check the data privacy policy of each technology tool used in our District regardless of the age of the student.  We can no longer allow students, even if they are 13, to sign up for online accounts without checking deeper into the data and privacy policies of these technologies.  This means that students are no longer going to be able to "add" their own chrome extensions or create user accounts on online software accounts.  Our District has to submit a plan by June 2019.  We then have time to begin the implementation of our plan.  Students will see the effects of these changes as we proceed.

During these discussions some important questions were asked.  Some of our students are already using accounts on a personal basis that are in direct violation of COPPA because they signed up for accounts on their own that require them to be 13 and they are not that old yet.

A second concern that was raised is that some students have been using their Kearsarge email to create these accounts which is in direct violation of our Responsible Use Policy that states that students can only use their Kearsarge email to create accounts for technologies that are educational in nature and this is to be done only after being directed to do so by a teacher.

We had a great conversation about data privacy and security in view of this and it gave me an opportunity to have a reminder discussion of the Responsible Use Policy.  We have learned that coming at things from an educational stand point is key to helping students make responsible decisions as they navigate social media and online technologies.  The open discussion helped me to see that we have more work to do.

I am requesting that parents have conversations with their children about data privacy for all accounts that they use.  If the minimum age of use for the tool is 13, parents should really consider whether the child is ready to have that access and make a joint decision as a family.  Be sure to keep in mind that students should never be using their Kearsarge account to set up access to Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Pinterest, iTunes, and just about every other social media account as these accounts do not fall into the realm of educational technologies used in our District at the present time.

I will end with the comment that despite these social media tools not being used in the realm of our educational technology plan, it's clear to us that students are using these accounts.  We will continue to work on educating students on how to manage their privacy, secure their data, and be responsible users of online technologies.  We certainly welcome your help. 

Do you think that social media tools should be used in our curriculum and/or do you think we should be doing more direct instruction on how to be responsible users of social media?  Do you have ideas on how this would be best delivered?  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment box below.