Dear Parents of school-aged children under the age of 13,
In order for schools within the Okeechobee County School District to continue to be able to provide your student with the most effective web-based tools and applications for learning, they need to abide by federal regulations that require a parental signature as outlined below.
Our district utilizes several computer software applications and web-based services, operated not by this school, but by third parties. These include Google Apps for Education (GAFE). GAFE student accounts may include Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Classroom, Gmail, Sites, Calendar, Blogger, YouTube (Education), Maps and Earth. You can find the GAFE Terms of Service at: https://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html. Gmail is available to your student, and your child’s account will remain active for the duration of his/her enrollment in the district. Students that are graduating are given instructions on how to retrieve information from GAFE accounts prior to deactivation. Other programs include Learning.com, Powtoons, Schoology, Socrative, Nearpod, and similar educational programs. A complete list of the programs with the privacy policy for each can be found on the application link below.
In order for our students to use these programs and services, certain personal identifying information -- generally the student’s name and email address -- must be provided to the web site operator. Your student will receive a Google email account to participate in the Google Apps for Education program used by OCSD. Under federal law entitled the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), these websites must provide parental notification and obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13. For more information on COPPA, please visit https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions
The law permits schools such as ours to consent to the collection of personal information on behalf of all of its students, thereby eliminating the need for individual parental consent given directly to the web site operator. This consent was found in the forms filled out for pre-registration. The paper form can be found here if needed. The consent form can be found in the Code of Student Conduct.