Communicating with Parents/Guardians about GoGuardian Teacher

We know your school/district wants to be transparent with its families about the use of online services such as GoGuardian in the classroom. GoGuardian wants to help support your school/district in transparently communicating about how GoGuardian product(s) improve their child’s digital learning environment, how our product(s) work, how our product(s) treat student privacy, and how your school or parents/guardians can customize GoGuardian.  

To facilitate this conversation, you will find resources on this webpage that are intended as templates for schools/districts to use in communicating with their students’ parents/guardians/families about GoGuardian. Because we believe that schools/districts are the experts at understanding their school communities’ policies, norms, relationships, and laws, these template resources should be customized by your schools/districts to align with their particular school’s/district’s community’s needs.

Steps to Communicating with Your Parents/Guardians About GoGuardian:

• Determine which GoGuardian product(s) your school/district uses.
  

  GoGuardian offers a suite of different product options for schools/districts, so your school’s/district’s communication/letter home to parents/guardians should describe the particular GoGuardian products that your school/district has adopted. For example, GoGuardian offers Admin, Teacher, Beacon, Fleet, and Director. Our resources below are specific to GoGuardian Admin and GoGuardian Teacher, but communication resources for GoGuardian Beacon can be found here.
  
  

• Determine which policies or settings your school/district has selected.
  

  Your school/district has a variety of different settings/policy options to choose from in the GoGuardian products. For example, your school/district can decide whether “in school” and “out of school” settings should be different and can customize settings for different age groups or students through organizational unit (OU) based settings.  Please read through the Help Center and/or contact support@goguardian.com for any questions about your school’s/district’s GoGuardian settings.
  

• Determine whether your school/district should obtain parental/guardian consent or add opt-out language in a letter/communication home to parents/guardians about GoGuardian.  
  

  GoGuardian’s sample letter/communication to parents/guardians does not include any consent language (i.e. language asking parents to sign the letter home agreeing to the use of GoGuardian with their child) or opt-out language (i.e. language telling parents/guardians that they can opt their child out of GoGuardian). GoGuardian obtains school-based consent under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (see Question M in the FTC’s Comply with COPPA FAQs if you have questions about school-based consent).  
  
  However, depending on your particular school’s/district’s local laws, policies, and/or community norms, your school/district may either be legally required to, or may want to, require parental consent or opt-out ability explicitly in your school/district’s communication/letter home to parents/guardians about GoGuardian. If you have questions or want to add such language, please consult your legal and policy team.

Resources for GoGuardian Admin and GoGuardian Teacher

Below are resources that your school/district can use in communicating about your school’s/district’s adoption of GoGuardian Admin and GoGuardian Teacher.  

• Template Parent/Guardian GoGuardian Admin and GoGuardian Teacher Letter

  GoGuardian Admin and GoGuardian Teacher are different products, so we ask that your school/district customize the letter depending on the GoGuardian products that your school/district uses.  
  
  

• GoGuardian COPPA Disclosure (PDF download)

  GoGuardian receives school consent under COPPA, not parental consent. As a transparency mechanism, we recommend sending home a COPPA Notice & Disclosure Form to parents even if your school’s students are over the age of 13.

   

• Technology Use Agreement

  GoGuardian does not have a sample technology use agreement, but many schools/districts require students and their parents/guardians to sign an acceptable technology use agreement that more generally describes the appropriate use of school equipment, networks, and accounts. This technology use agreement also explains that schools will filter and monitor this equipment, networks, and accounts. Even if your school/district has a technology use agreement, it is important that your school/district specifically communicates about the adoption of GoGuardian products such as GoGuardian Admin and GoGuardian Teacher in a separate letter/communication home to parents/guardians.