The Licking Heights Local School District utilizes Google Apps for Education for students, teachers, and staff. This permission form describes the tools and student responsibilities for using these services. As with any educational endeavor, a strong partnership with families is essential to a successful experience.

The following services are available to each student and hosted by Google as part of Licking Heights Local School District’s online presence in Google Apps for Education:

Mail - an individual email account for school use managed by Licking Heights Local Schools

Calendar - an individual calendar providing the ability to organize schedules, daily activities, and assignments

Docs - a word processing, spreadsheet, drawing, and presentation toolset that is very similar to Microsoft Office

Sites - an individual and collaborative website creation tool

Using these tools, students collaboratively create, edit and share files and websites for school related projects and communicate via email with other students and teachers. These services are entirely online and available 24/7 from any Internet-connected computer. Examples of student use include showcasing class projects, building an electronic portfolio of school learning experiences, and working in small groups on presentations to share with others.

Federal Laws

Technology use in The Licking Heights Local School District is governed by federal laws including:

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA applies to commercial companies and limits their ability to collect personal information from children under 13. By default, advertising is turned off for Licking Heights Local School District’s presence in Google Apps for Education. No personal student information is collected for commercial purposes. This permission form allows the school to act as an agent for parents in the collection of information within the school context. The school's use of student information is solely for education purposes.  

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA protects the privacy of student education records and gives parents the rights to review student records. Under FERPA, schools may disclose directory information but parents may request the school not disclose this information. Parents are provided the opportunity annually to opt out of disclosing their student's directory information on the District's Enrollment Form.  

Guidelines for the responsible use of Google Apps for Education by students:

. Official Email Address. All students will be assigned a [email protected] email account. This account will be considered the student's official LHSD email address until such time as the student is no longer enrolled with the Licking Heights Local School District.

Prohibited Conduct. The transfer of inappropriate material, bullying remarks, personal or social communication and use of the lhschools.org account to sign up for social networking accounts is prohibited. This account is to be used for LHSD approved educational purposes only.

Security. Licking Heights Local School District cannot and does not guarantee the security of electronic files located on Google systems. Although Google does have a powerful content filter in place for email, the District cannot assure that users will not be exposed to unsolicited information.

Privacy. The general right of privacy will be extended to the extent possible in the electronic environment. Licking Heights Local School District and all electronic users should treat electronically stored information in individuals' files as confidential and private. However, users of student email are strictly prohibited from accessing files and information other than their own. The District reserves the right to access the [email protected] Google systems, including current and archival files of user accounts when there is reasonable suspicion that unacceptable use has occurred.