Dear Canton Families, 

Our shift to remote learning will result in the increased use of a number of online resources.  Last fall, Canton Public Schools began evaluating all of our online and digital resources to comply with all state and federal laws around Student Data Privacy, specifically the Families Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA.  We are in the process of vetting all online and digital resources for privacy compliance, ensuring proper safeguards are in place to keep your child’s data safe and secure.  We have signed Data Privacy Agreements (DPA’s) for most of our digital learning resource collection.  

You will be hearing more about our Student Data Privacy process in the upcoming months.  However, given our sudden transition to remote learning, online and digital resources are a primary resource of our learning opportunities and curriculum sources.  As such, some resources the district will be using do not have a signed data privacy agreement with the Canton Public Schools. However, the privacy policy associated with this resource has been reviewed and the District has determined that it meets acceptable legal student data privacy standards.   We are calling these resources, Conditionally Approved. The list of conditionally approved resources is located here.  As a parent, you may opt out of allowing your child to utilize these conditionally approved resources, however, the district believes these resources are safe and are valuable learning tools for our students.  To opt out, please click here and fill out a Google Form noting which resources you are requesting to opt out of.

Another particular area of focus of digital resources has been our use of video conferencing tools to provide students and staff opportunities to engage with one another in real time. Both Google Meet and Zoom are the approved platforms for video conferencing within the Canton Public Schools and both comply with our Student Data Privacy agreements.  With respect to Zoom, we have provided all CPS educators with the recommended settings to ensure a safe Zoom session. In accordance with state and federal laws, staff, students, and parents/guardians must refrain from recording any video conference remote lesson. In fact, it is a violation of the law to record without the consent of every participant. As such, our staff has been instructed to inform students at the start of each video conference that teachers and students are not permitted to record these sessions. 

We ask everyone in our school community to recognize that video conferences and other online services will be taking place in the homes of the educators and students who participate in the calls, and to be mindful of everyone’s right to privacy. To that end, we remind our students to dress appropriately and choose an appropriate location in their home from which to participate in any and all remote learning opportunities, particularly those with a video component. Parents/ guardians should take all precautions to safeguard personal or private information that they do not wish to be disclosed. Students will be expected to behave in accordance with school rules of conduct while participating in remote learning.  You can find the link to the norms and expectations that were previously sent to families here: GMS and CHS, Hansen, JFK, Luce, Early Childhood Center.

Cyber-bullying, harassment, discrimination, and abuse of the remote learning process will not be tolerated.  The CPS Student Responsible Use Policy will continue to apply to this remote learning.

In addition, while parents/ guardians are permitted to observe online instruction in a non-disruptive manner, to the extent that remote learning opportunities provide access to confidential student information, all participants agree, by participating in this remote learning opportunity, to refrain from disseminating any confidential student information about other student participants with any and all third parties.  Along with CPS staff and students, we want to inform parents and guardians that they too are not allowed to record these sessions. 

Canton is committed to providing all students with a safe and secure learning environment; your respect for our students' privacy and their right to confidentiality, especially during this unprecedented time, is much appreciated. 

Thank you and be well, 

Julie Shore
Director of Technology and Digital Learning
Canton Public Schools
shorej@cantonma.org