School District No. 20 (Kootenay-Columbia) is offering students the use of a district managed Google Workspace for Education account. Google Workspace for Education is a free, “walled garden” style learning platform where students can have discussions, share their learning and collaborate on projects. They will also gain access to a document and media creation platform similar to Microsoft Office that includes online cloud storage via Google Drive. This private online learning environment is managed by the School District and students will only be able to interact with others in the class, and other SD20 teachers.

We will be using Google Workspace to provide students a set of free tools to do their work for Google Workspace enabled classes, store and manage assignments across all platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, etc), and collaborate and receive feedback among their teachers and peers in real time.

Benefits of using Google Workspace for Education:

• Provides a safe and easy way to support students both in and outside of the classroom.
• Helps students develop important online skills.
• Facilitates student communication with the teacher to get help or ask questions.
• Provides an easy way for students to keep track of important due dates and tasks.
• Allows students to view missed work when absent from class.
• Allows the teacher to monitor online conversations and intervene when necessary to keep students on task and ensure a safe environment.
• Allows students to access files, links and resources provided by the teacher anywhere there is an internet connection.
• Helps foster vibrant learning communities.
• Encourages the distinction between “school email” and existing personal student accounts.
• Managed and monitored by the School District.
• Allow students a way to work at home on any electronic platform/device regardless of software or hardware choices in the home (seamless on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android)

Why the need for a permission slip?

Public School Districts are subject to the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act [http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/96165_00]. In accordance with this Act, the School District must ensure that it is protecting the privacy of all student information collected and used. As such, schools cannot use personal and identifiable information of a student (e.g., first name, last name, school, grade, teacher, class, etc.) including student work outside of the School District’s own systems without written consent of the student’s parent or guardian. Below are possible identifiable privacy risks and ways to minimize them.

What are the identifiable privacy risks?

The Google Workspace web platform requires users to register for a “@sd20.net” email account that is stored on Google Servers in the United States.

See: https://edu.google.com/products/productivity-tools/

According to the Google Workspace for Education agreement (see: https://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html) student data will never be shared with any Third Party unless ordered by supoena, warrant, etc. Additionally, there is no advertising data extracted from student accounts. However, because Google is located outside of Canada, these accounts are “governed by California law, excluding that state's choice of law rules. FOR ANY DISPUTE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT, THE PARTIES CONSENT TO PERSONAL JURISDICTION IN, AND THE EXCLUSIVE VENUE OF, THE COURTS IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.” Also “Each party may disclose the other party's Confidential Information when required by law but only after it, if legally permissible: (a) uses commercially reasonable efforts to notify the other party; and (b) gives the other party the chance to challenge the disclosure.” This disclosure clause is subject to privacy laws in effect in Santa Clara County, California. This also makes it subject to US Federal Law, including the Patriot Act.

Students will receive training on proper privacy settings and the importance of protecting their privacy as well as that of fellow classmates. All “best practice” steps have been taken by our domain administrator to limit the amount of data uploaded and shared with Google Servers.

This agreement will last from time of signing until completion or withdrawal of the student from School District No. 20. If the ToS (Terms of Service) required by Google change, and those changes impact this agreement, you will be notified in writing and further consent required to continue. These changes will be done prior to the school year, at the end of the school year and during the mid year semester change - three times a year - by the District’s IT department in conjunction with school administrators. The IT department will be responsible to monitor ToS changes and account deletion.

Please give consideration as to how this tool will enhance your child’s learning in our school. If you consent to your child’s use of Google Workspace as described above, please click I AGREE below to complete this process.

This agreement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.