the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, MoveOn.Org solicitation and indoctrination of unsolicited emails may be a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) as well as a violation of the schools own ineternet policy. The recent uproar has many parents stewing .
“Consent Requirement
No student shall be allowed to use the school district’s computer networks/computers Internet and any other third party online services employed by the district unless consent is given for the student by his/her parent(s) or legal guardian(s).
In order to meet our educational goals, Ridgewood Public Schools may utilize third party websites and online services, (such as sites and apps for curriculum, graphic design and foreign language), for our students. These services are used to assist with curricular and other education specific needs both inside and outside of the classroom. The school, when possible and appropriate, will utilize the education specific versions and also restrict the student information shared with these services to the minimum required for account creation.
COPPA
Congress enacted the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in 1998 with amendments in 2012. The primary purpose of COPPA is to place parents in control over the information gathered about their children by online apps. The Rule applies to commercial websites/apps that collect, use, or disclose personal information from children, and operators of general audience websites or online services with actual knowledge that they are collecting, using or disclosing personal information from children under 13. For students under the age of 13, COPPA permits school districts, such as ours, to provide consent to the collection of personal information strictly for educational purposes on behalf of all of its students. This eliminates the need for parents to provide direct consent to each digital service the school utilizes in your child’s instruction. Parents wishing to deny access to these educational tools, must do so in writing to the principal indicating their child should be denied access to these tools. It should be noted that because RPS provides your child a relevant education through integrated technology, denying access to these educational tools will prove problematic for any classes utilizing Chromebooks for instructional purposes. For more information on COPPA, please visit https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0031protecting-your-childs-privacy-online.”
This is digusting and a symptom of the decline in our schools
I hope Ridgewood teachers, administrators, BOE members and Dr. Fishbein are reading this: your actions, comments, Facebook posts, etc are not going unnoticed by parents. Stop selling your agenda and just teach – PERIOD! No union causes, no political talking points, no indoctrination. Our kids are leaving RHS with less real-life skills than ever. Gap years, 5th years, college non-graduates are the norm rather than the exception. Please think of the lives of your students after graduation. There is no money to be made by being a commenter on social media…it’s an intellectual race to the bottom.
such an uproar… lol.. parents are stewing…lol… i didnt hear any complaints last nights boe meeting. blog….bs
property values are based on the value of education , if the schools fail , your home values go down the toilet