BYOD
By: Lauren Banfield
12/15/14 2:00pm
As many of the students know, the BYOD enrollment (Bring Your Own Device) ends today, December 12th. Many students are concerned with the privacy issues regarding the new wifi policy. Each student has been emailed a set of instructions via their gmail accounts. In the process of installing the app that is needed in order to connect to the schools wifi, there is a message that states that certain apps will be banned. A message will appear on that cellphone stating that there is a banned app and it needs to be removed within 72 hours or else the student cannot connect to the wifi. Administration is not looking at the apps on anyone’s phone; it is simply “system generated” as the email states. Another statement that the student has to agree to before installing the “AbsoluteApps” app is how administration is able to look into the device if necessary. This is where students became very concerned. They don’t want to sign up for something that might affect their privacy rights. “I did not enroll my device because of the privacy issue” stated Kalie Harding. Tyler Kubert wants to know why laptops are not allowed and would like to know which apps will be banned. Paige Royalty expressed her feelings about how parents are unaware of the BYOD enrollment. Edwin DeLeon believes that there “is no need to enroll in the school’s new program, and that there is no reason to remove apps such as Puffin.” He also states that laptops should be allowed due to the fact that they are great learning tools. When Mrs. LaFreniere was interviewed about the privacy issue she clearly states that administration “does not search student phones and they have no reason to open or look at student phones.” She encourages students to remove their battery or lock the phone if they're asked to turn it over for pick up later in the day so there's no question about whether someone looked in a phone. Many students were also unsure that if somebody committed an inappropriate act, would administration have the right to look into their phone? Our principle states that if there is any reason to believe a criminal act involves a phone, the police are notified and there are guidelines that they must follow regarding the search of a phone. Teachers have the right away to take a phone away during class but they cannot search a phone. This is the same rule for administration policies. Lastly, Mrs. LaFreniere says that the administration’s job is to help students learn how to become responsible technology users. “Technology can be a wonderful learning tool and is something that we want to incorporate into teaching and learning as much as possible where appropriate, and we encourage teachers to find ways to do so, as well as provide ideas and information about how to do that. We find that altogether banning phones in school is not the way to solve that problem, but instead, to continue to educate students on how to avoid these inappropriate technology situations and when possible, use them as teachable moments so that students are prepared to be responsible digital citizens for life.”
By: Lauren Banfield
12/15/14 2:00pm
As many of the students know, the BYOD enrollment (Bring Your Own Device) ends today, December 12th. Many students are concerned with the privacy issues regarding the new wifi policy. Each student has been emailed a set of instructions via their gmail accounts. In the process of installing the app that is needed in order to connect to the schools wifi, there is a message that states that certain apps will be banned. A message will appear on that cellphone stating that there is a banned app and it needs to be removed within 72 hours or else the student cannot connect to the wifi. Administration is not looking at the apps on anyone’s phone; it is simply “system generated” as the email states. Another statement that the student has to agree to before installing the “AbsoluteApps” app is how administration is able to look into the device if necessary. This is where students became very concerned. They don’t want to sign up for something that might affect their privacy rights. “I did not enroll my device because of the privacy issue” stated Kalie Harding. Tyler Kubert wants to know why laptops are not allowed and would like to know which apps will be banned. Paige Royalty expressed her feelings about how parents are unaware of the BYOD enrollment. Edwin DeLeon believes that there “is no need to enroll in the school’s new program, and that there is no reason to remove apps such as Puffin.” He also states that laptops should be allowed due to the fact that they are great learning tools. When Mrs. LaFreniere was interviewed about the privacy issue she clearly states that administration “does not search student phones and they have no reason to open or look at student phones.” She encourages students to remove their battery or lock the phone if they're asked to turn it over for pick up later in the day so there's no question about whether someone looked in a phone. Many students were also unsure that if somebody committed an inappropriate act, would administration have the right to look into their phone? Our principle states that if there is any reason to believe a criminal act involves a phone, the police are notified and there are guidelines that they must follow regarding the search of a phone. Teachers have the right away to take a phone away during class but they cannot search a phone. This is the same rule for administration policies. Lastly, Mrs. LaFreniere says that the administration’s job is to help students learn how to become responsible technology users. “Technology can be a wonderful learning tool and is something that we want to incorporate into teaching and learning as much as possible where appropriate, and we encourage teachers to find ways to do so, as well as provide ideas and information about how to do that. We find that altogether banning phones in school is not the way to solve that problem, but instead, to continue to educate students on how to avoid these inappropriate technology situations and when possible, use them as teachable moments so that students are prepared to be responsible digital citizens for life.”