Superior School District Google Parent Letter

What This Means To Your Child

Why are students getting Google Accounts?

In order to support digital instruction that is common in classes today, it has become apparent that students need an email account. To this end, the Superior School District has moved staff to Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and created accounts for students to enhance the way we use technology and share information within and beyond our school community.

Google was chosen as a platform for several reasons. As you will see below, having an account with Google opens many useful tools. Many staff and students already have personal Gmail accounts, so teaching them to use their GAFE accounts will be easy. GAFE is free, and because Wisconsin is a Google Apps for Education State, there are frequent training opportunities for teachers to become even better at integrating technology.

What does Google Offer?

Google Apps for Education is a suite of online office tools made available to schools for free. Google Apps for Education includes:

Gmail–for email communication

Google Drive–allows creation of documents, presentations, spreadsheets and more.  In addition it  allows data storage in the cloud so students can access their files anywhere with an internet connection.  Losing your homework just got a lot harder!

Google Calendar–for subscribing to district calendars, and/or keeping a personal “agenda” of due dates and other events

Google Classroom—to access classroom materials and assignments

Information about GAFE can be found here http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/benefits.htm

What should I be aware of?

• Unlike many other web services GAFE acknowledges its users as the owners of content they produce and store
• GAFE does not share any data or user information with any other party unlike other Google products such as Gmail.

• Your child will be provided an email address as part of the GAFE package.
• Students in grades K-8 can ONLY send or receive emails within the district’s domain; that is emails ending with superior.k12.wi.us. Students in grades 9-10 will be able to email within our domain and with accounts ending in .edu to allow collaboration with educational sites. Student email accounts for grades 11 and 12 will be open.

GAFE terms of service can be read here.

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en-GB/terms/education_terms.htm

What rules and practices are in place to keep students safe?

Email messages sent from students using the provided email system are required to adhere to strict District policies. All email account users should be aware of the following:

Superior School District may monitor all inbound and outbound emails for viruses, profanity, offensive language, racist and sexual comments, virus hoaxes, chain-mail, and known spam mailers. You should not assume that your District GAFE account is private. Superior School District reserves the right to intercept, store, archive, delete, or view such emails for security purposes; and, where necessary, investigate inappropriate subject matter by the parties involved.

Student expectations include the following:

• Students will use this email account for the purpose outlined in the course expectations.
• Students will exhibit respect and courtesy  at all times when using their email account.
• Students will understand that this email account can and will be monitored for inappropriate usage.

Any violation of the Acceptable Use Agreement will result in disciplinary action based on the policies of the school and district. These supplement the school district’s Policy for Acceptable Use of Technology Resources as stated in each school’s student handbooks.

Students will not use this email account to send or receive derogatory subject matter.

Students under age 13 ordinarily need parent permission to have email accounts. However, COPPA (Child Online Privacy Protection Act) allows schools to act as the parents’ agent and approve Google Apps for Education accounts on their behalf. To be COPPA compliant, we have an opt out process. If you would like to discuss this, please contact Tate Haglund-Pagel (information below).

What if I have more questions?

We want you to be involved with your student’s education. We encourage you to log into Google Apps for Education with your student to see what it’s all about! If you wish to discuss how Google Apps for Education is used at our schools, please contact Tate Haglund-Pagel (information below).

For the full School District of Superior Technology Policies please visit

https://sites.google.com/a/cesa12.org/superior-tech-plan/home/policies

Thank you,
Tate Haglund-Pagel, Instructional Technology Integration Coach, Superior School District
Tate.haglund-pagel@superior.k12.wi.us  715 394 8700 Ext 139