The Russell Street School really does understand the need for communication with its stakeholders. IN fact, they’ve even gone beyond this local need and have shared with the world.
I love that not only does the school share important news and events on the main pages of the blog, but it also features a blog for each class. I quite enjoyed watching the kiddos perform their haka play presentation. I couldn’t help but wish I had access to something similar for my daughters’ school. Now don’t get me wrong, they do communicate, but it is more easily accessible to a larger crowd when all parties involved are utilizing the same platform. In this case, the RSS uses a Google site.
Though Google is the base camp for the blogs, I noticed that several classrooms have also incorporated Seesaw within their pages. I have a Seesaw parent account for my kids, and as a teacher who cannot always leave school, I love how I have been able to view classroom moments, activities, and presentations through this application. The RSS teachers and staff are an example of school unity in communicating with its community and supporters. It’s a one stop show for parents and other interested parties, which brings me to my only concern...child privacy.
OK, so maybe it’s a cultural difference, but I was amazed that so many teacher pages with Seesaw gave access to student names, given all of the video and visuals. I have used Seesaw and loved its capabilities, but I am not sure how I would feel about the world being able to view the workings of the classroom and be able to identify my child by name. Is this not a safety issue? (Or is America just more sensitive to predators?) Within our app, each child is numbered, and parents who are approved to join see names. It is not accessible elsewhere. So, while I love the RSS blog and its openness in featuring the good of its school and classes, I would also be concerned about the exposure of my child to all.
I love that not only does the school share important news and events on the main pages of the blog, but it also features a blog for each class. I quite enjoyed watching the kiddos perform their haka play presentation. I couldn’t help but wish I had access to something similar for my daughters’ school. Now don’t get me wrong, they do communicate, but it is more easily accessible to a larger crowd when all parties involved are utilizing the same platform. In this case, the RSS uses a Google site.
Though Google is the base camp for the blogs, I noticed that several classrooms have also incorporated Seesaw within their pages. I have a Seesaw parent account for my kids, and as a teacher who cannot always leave school, I love how I have been able to view classroom moments, activities, and presentations through this application. The RSS teachers and staff are an example of school unity in communicating with its community and supporters. It’s a one stop show for parents and other interested parties, which brings me to my only concern...child privacy.
OK, so maybe it’s a cultural difference, but I was amazed that so many teacher pages with Seesaw gave access to student names, given all of the video and visuals. I have used Seesaw and loved its capabilities, but I am not sure how I would feel about the world being able to view the workings of the classroom and be able to identify my child by name. Is this not a safety issue? (Or is America just more sensitive to predators?) Within our app, each child is numbered, and parents who are approved to join see names. It is not accessible elsewhere. So, while I love the RSS blog and its openness in featuring the good of its school and classes, I would also be concerned about the exposure of my child to all.
Angela, I'm very interested in and concerned with the privacy debate. I must admit, I've never worried about doing harm to the child. I guess I figure, maybe innocently, no one besides students, parents and teachers are that interested in what we do at our school. My concern is whether the school or I will get in trouble for posting names, photos or videos of students. At any rate, I'm interested in the privacy conversation and the experiences others have had, because mine are limited. I usually don't post student work or videos because I'm not sure what I can and can't/should and shouldn't do.
ReplyDeleteI realize that perhaps it might be ok for image and work to be shown, but there were several photos specifically identifying each kid. I know we would like to think that nobody else bothers to look, but there's a reason predators are banned from being physically close to public buildings such as schools. I would think that the lack of physical capability to get to students would make them more apt to "fish" virtually. I'm just a concerned parent who has heard of too many stories of predatory fishing with younger students. It scares me.
DeleteI also had the same concern when looking at the blog. It is sad that we have to be so concerned about it, but it is reality. It would be pretty easy for someone who would wish to harm a child to find their name and know their location just from looking at the blog. When I was in high school, I had a friend from another school who had a scary experience. Someone came to the office and told the secretary he was supposed to pick this student up for an appointment or something. Luckily the secretary knew this student's parents and felt that she should call and check with them first. As she did so, the stranger left and the parents confirmed that no one was supposed to be picking up their child. If the secretary had not thought to call the parents, who knows what would have happened. I never thought anything like this would happen in our tiny little Idaho town, and security has since been tightened in all surrounding schools. My friends experience has always stuck with me, and I can't help but think with posting student names online, we are making it far too easy for something like this to happen.
ReplyDeleteIt is scary how bold some people are and how lax others are, but you are right; predators exist and will find weaknesses in people and ways to groom kids. I don't even like to put my kids' names on their clothing or backpacks. Kids are way to trusting. I think having images and showing work is fine, but the site allows anybody to see images and know exactly which kid is which by name.
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