by Sara Zimmerman
Update: 3/31/2021 Berkeley High School parents were informed that the monitoring of what websites students visited has been put on indefinite hold. Parents will retain the ability to ban certain websites on school-issued devices.
Students at Berkeley High were alarmed in March 2021 to unexpectedly receive an email from Berkeley High principal Juan Raygoza informing them that, effective immediately, the school had enabled a monitoring app on all school issued chromebooks and devices. The monitoring app provided parents and guardians with access to students’ browsing history, recent top 5 websites, apps, and extensions. The email stated: “Your parents are there to help keep you safe, and the app provides them with what they need to do that. In order to bring you an effective digital learning environment, it’s important to open the lines of communication with the adults who have your best interest at heart.”
Students and parents responded quickly, urging Berkeley High to reevaluate this policy, at a minimum postponing implementation of this change and providing privacy protections regarding students’ past activities. In response, Berkeley High sent an email to at least one parent stating that it was putting elements of the policy on hold for further review, turning off the monitoring features of the app but maintaining the ability for parents and guardians to block specific websites or cut off access to the internet. However, no notice went out to the student population informing them about this change.
The concerns raised by the community were wide-ranging. Community members expressed concern that the policy would inequitably affect lower-income students who rely upon school issued devices. High school students access a wide range of information that they regard as private from their parents: information about domestic violence, incest, sexual assault, suicide, abortion, and birth control. Students also access information about human sexual development, sexual orientation, gender identity, transitioning genders, and more. Community members pointed out that the sudden change in privacy expectations might cause students anxiety and distress, and might potentially cause students to turn to extreme behavior, such as suicide or running away.
Following the expression of concerns, school personnel sent an email to one parent stating, “We have received a lot of feedback since announcing this planned implementation to our students and staff, and I will be drafting a FAQ document today to address the questions, comments and concerns. I wanted to let you know that I have turned off the monitoring aspect for student activity while we review and assess the feedback from our community. As it is currently configured, parents will be able to block specific websites for their students, and pause Internet access either on demand or at scheduled times, but they will not be able to view student browsing activity.” In contrast, a student received a response that simply noted that an FAQ would be coming shortly, but did not mention the change to the monitoring capacity of the app.
Parents and students also acknowledged that there are real dangers from the internet and voiced their understanding that there might need to be carefully crafted policies for different age groups that addressed potential harms while also acknowledging the benefits of access to key information. Families urged the school to put the policy on hold and start from scratch, developing a policy through developing a process that includes student voices, acknowledges and addresses their concerns, and provides notice of the proposed changes in advance.
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