Annual Notice: Student Technology Use & Privacy Guidelines

Dear NELSD Community,

This notice is provided to meet requirements implemented through Ohio Senate Bill 29 (“SB29”) that was passed by the Ohio General Assembly, effective on October 24, 2024.

Families can visit our webpage by clicking here to find information about the curriculum and instructional materials we use, assessments students may take throughout the year, how we collect and protect student data, and the third-party platforms and tools that support learning and communication. This page will be updated accordingly.

While students have no right or expectation of privacy when using District technology resources, the Northeastern Local School District (NELSD) and certain third-party technology providers contracted by the District are prohibited by State law from electronically accessing or monitoring specific features on school-issued devices unless a legally permissible exception applies. These prohibited features include, but are not limited to:

• Location-tracking capabilities
• Audio or visual receiving, transmitting, or recording functions
• Student interactions with the device, such as keystrokes or web-browsing activity

School-issued devices are defined as any hardware, software, devices, or accounts the District provides to an individual student for their personal use.

NELSD is required to annually provide parents and guardians with this general notice regarding when the District or its technology providers may electronically access or monitor school-issued devices. Permissible reasons include:

1. Activity that is limited to non-commercial educational purposes for instruction, technical support, or exam proctoring by School District employees or staff contracted by the District. Teachers may monitor students as they work on assignments during class to ensure they are staying on task. 
2. Pursuant to a judicial warrant. The District is required to comply with a lawfully issued warrant that directs the District, technology providers, or law enforcement to conduct a search of data.  
3. Notification or awareness that the student-issued District device is lost or stolen. This might occur if the District becomes aware that a student’s device is lost or stolen, in which case the District or technology provider might access and monitor data to discover when and where the device last interacted with the District’s systems. 
4. Activity is necessary to respond to a threat to life or safety. The access is limited to this purpose alone. For instance, the District may receive alerts about possible self-harm indicators on student devices that prompt an investigation that involves accessing or monitoring student data. The District implements other protocols, such as contacting parents/guardians and/or first responders.  
5. Compliance with Federal and/or State laws. The District may be required to comply with a law that places an obligation on the District to access or monitor devices. 
6. Required as part of a Federal or State funding program. For example, to comply with the requirements of the Federal E-Rate funding programs, the District filters all student Internet access pursuant to the Children’s Internet Protection Act. This includes filtering materials that are obscene, objectionable, inappropriate, and/or harmful to minors.

This electronic monitoring can only occur when advance notice is provided. No further notice is required for the District to monitor under reason #1. In the event that one of the circumstances listed in reasons #2-#6 occurs, the District will provide you with a seventy-two (72) hour notice of what features of the device were accessed, a written description of the circumstance, and a description of the threat, if any. If the notice itself could pose a threat to life or safety, the seventy-two (72) hour notice will be provided within seventy-two (72) hours after the threat has ended.

Sincerely,

Jack Fisher
Superintendent