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Student Data Privacy

Digital technologies -- both hardware and software -- play a pivotal role in supporting student acquisition of knowledge and skills as well as removing socio-economic barriers to accessing and interacting with information. Physical textbooks, workbooks, and paper/pencil assessments have been supplanted by personal devices and online resources as the primary means to interact with academic content and assess student learning. Covington Exempted Village School District promotes a culture that works to provide the appropriate levels of access to digital resources, support the growth of responsible student behavior, and safeguard student data and privacy.

Every student at CEVSD is provided with a personal device and grade-level appropriate online resources to support their learning. Students in grades K-12 have access to Chromebooks, with students in grades 5-12 permitted to bring these devices home from school daily. Online resources are curated through various tools including the Google Workspace for Education, Clever, our digital curriculum providers and other approved online platforms.

Supporting the growth of responsible student behavior begins with the CEVSD Acceptable Use of Technology policy (7540.03). This policy outlines the expectations for students when using district devices, networks, and as well as expected behaviors when communicating and researching online. Additional guidance is provided in the CEVSD Acceptable Use of Technology administrative guidelines (AG 7540.03). 

Student data includes the information Covington Schools shares with specific vendors in order to secure access for students to district-approved online resources. We believe it is paramount to safeguard student data at-rest and in-transit and have policies in place to govern these interactions.  In addition to complying with the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the District has enacted procedures to safeguard student data when adopting new resources. These guidelines ensure all resources meet district and State of Ohio student data privacy standards, align with board adopted curriculum, and use instructional best practices. We only share data with companies as needed to provide accounts or services for students instruction, assessment, or testing.

More information about the policies governing district data protocols can be found by visiting the Board of Education web page and selecting the BoardDocs Community link.

Additionally, information about district cybersecurity, internet filtering, device monitoring, and other security and data privacy practices can be found by visiting our Digital Safety webpage.

General Monitoring of School-Issued Devices

Please be aware that the District, either directly or through a technology provider, is electing to generally monitor all school-issued devices (as that term is defined by R.C. 3319.325).  The monitoring includes the following features: location tracking and student interactions with school-issued devices (e.g., keystrokes and web-browsing activity). The District generally monitors these features for the noncommercial education purpose of instruction, technical support, and/or exam proctoring, and/or as required by the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) enacted by the US Congress in 2000. Additionally, these features are generally monitored as a necessary precaution for preventing and/or responding to threats to life or safety.

Please note that the District has NOT implemented any new or changed monitoring services.  This notice is a new requirement per Ohio Senate Bill 29 (“SB29”) that was passed by the Ohio General Assembly at the end of June 2024, was signed by Governor DeWine on July 24, 2024, and becomes effective on October 24, 2024.

Details of General Monitoring

  1. CIPA-compliant Web Filter - All district internet traffic is filtered in compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). CIPA compliant filtering policies are applied to all users on campus and all student-assigned devices both on campus and at home. Data collected include the date and time, website address, source & destination IP address, logged-in user (district-owned devices only), user's filtering group.
     
  2. Student Safety Monitoring - The District employs Gaggle Safety Management to monitor and flag concerning content in student's Google Drive and Gmail messages to protect student safety. This tool provides rapid response for severe situations concerning student mental health or safety. Gaggle representatives notify district-appointed contacts immediately, even after standard business hours.
     
  3. Educational Apps Usage Monitoring -  As part of our student data privacy process, any resource that collects data from students is reviewed to ensure it meets district data privacy and instructional standards. This activity is supported by the use of Lightspeed Digital Insight, a Chrome extension that monitors educational app usage to allow district administration to identify tools currently in use in our classrooms.
     
  4. Instructional Support Monitoring - The District employs Securly Classroom as an instructional management tool to promote student engagement in the classroom.  Securly Classroom gives teachers screen monitoring and engagement tools to guide online behavior and help students stay on task. Its functionality is restricted to school hours and it only functions with devices when they are on campus at Covington Schools.