Cyber Safety
Heritage Elementary 2017-18
Dear Parents and Students,
As many of you may be aware, over the past year the Douglas County School District has partnered with Google to provide e-mail accounts to all students. While there are many great benefits to allowing students to have access to an e-mail account there are also many concerns and safety guidelines that are raised by having this unique tool at our students’ disposal. Below is a quick FYI on how we use G-Mail with students in our schools as well as information that addresses concerns that you may have.
Every year, by law, students undergo a unit on Internet Safety in Technology. This unit covers a wide range of subject areas including digital etiquette, safe e-mail usage, cyberbullying, netiquette, safe internet search strategies, and beyond.
Students also engage in Second Step activities with their classroom teachers that promote safety rules and strategies to help keep students safe.
Heritage students learn how to access and utilize their student G-Mail accounts. They learn the basics of email and how to compose e-mails and utilize this beneficial communication tool for school purposes.
Student G-Mail accounts are NOT public domains. They can only be used for school purposes, student e-mails cannot contact people outside the school district. The main purpose, as instructed, is to e-mail peers and teachers when collaborating on projects. This helps promote e-mail as a tool for homework assignments, classroom projects, etc. Students are reminded of the main purpose of their school emails, not releasing public information to others, and using the tool professionally (formal letter writing).
Students access their e-mails through a special login on the HE website. The user id for students is their lastnamefirstinitialmiddleinitial and their password is Dcsdstudentid. Parents can access their students accounts at will and staff can access any email account by request. DCSD does monitor all student accounts as well. Students cannot change the password and if you believe a student is not utilizing their account responsibly they have been told we can turn off their account.
Students have been instructed not to give away personal information. It is very important they are asking parents or teachers for permission when accessing their e-mails. It is a continued battle (especially with older students) to ensure their information remains private and we make every effort to help students learn the importance of personal information, keeping things private, and utilizing school e-mail for educational and professional purposes only.
Additionally, students are informed that they need to have discussions with parents if they wish to have a personal e-mail. By the end of the first semester, students should understand the purposes behind having a school GMail account and how to use it for ONLY school email, school google docs, etc. They have been instructed to speak with their parents if they wish to explore the opportunity of having a personal e-mail address that is open to the entire world wide web. In this case, parents have the right to tell students they may not have one until an age they feel is more appropriate for a public setting.
Below you will find links to three helpful home-school connection letters about Internet safety that compliment what they have learned in class about using e-mail. It is important that parents play an active role in e-mail usage and are always monitoring student behaviors. Having conversations with students about what they learned about internet safety in school and how to use their e-mails is important in ensuring that students accurately understood the concept and expectations of their student’s email account.
Home School Connection Links:
We highly value your feedback and look forward to giving students the opportunity to utilize 21st Century Skills and Tools to enrich their learning experience. It is highly important that as a community we all play pivotal roles in guiding our students down the safest and most beneficial path towards their future citizenship and academic success.
If you have any questions please email Mrs. Holtz (jnholtz@dcsdk12.org), Mrs. Howard (enhoward@dcsdk12.org), or Ms. Morgan (dmmorgan1@dcsdk12.org) for further clarification. Thank you as always for your dedication to Technology at Heritage Elementary!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Holtz
Mrs. Howard
Mrs. Morgan
5th Grade Teachers
Heritage Elementary