Google Apps for Education Information
Google Apps for Education is a collection of free online applications — all of which synchronize and flow together and integrate into existing course materials. These applications do not reside on the computer itself, but are accessed through a web browser. This is considered working in the “cloud”. The benefit of this structure allows flexibility in accessing documents and projects from ANY computer or mobile device with Internet access. Staff and students can access their school documents from a computer lab, the classroom, the public library and even from home!
Ben Lane
Director of Technology
blane@wusd.ws
What governmental laws are the Washington Unified School District and Google required to follow?
Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
- The school district is required by CIPA to have technology measures and policies in place that protect students from harmful materials including those that are obscene and pornographic. This means that student Internet access is filtered. Websites containing harmful content from inappropriate sites will be blocked.
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
- COPPA applies to commercial companies and limits their ability to collect personal information from children under 13. By default, Google advertising is turned off for Apps for Education users. No personal student information is collected for commercial purposes.
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- FERPA protects the privacy of student education records and gives parents rights to review student records. Under FERPA, schools may disclose directory information (name, phone, address, grade level, etc.) but parents may request that the school not disclose this information.
- The school will not publish confidential educational records (grades, student ID #, etc.) for public viewing on the Internet.
- The school may publish student work and photos for public viewing but will not publish student last names or other personally identifiable information.
- Parents may request that photos, names and general directory information about their children not be published.
- Parents have the right at any time to investigate the contents of their child’s email and Apps for Education files.