Facts & Safety Tips for Parents 

• Zoom is a video conferencing app that has become popular with schools as a way to offer “live” teaching online during the global pandemic.

• In grades PK-5th, your child should be supervised while they’re using Zoom. The following are a few things to discuss and review before using Zoom:

• Explore Zoom together (Teach your child: how to mute himself or herself, how to turn on his/her video, and how to join his/her classes in Zoom.)

• Talk to your child about what they’re sharing (IF this is allowed by the teacher, sharing should ONLY be academic in nature.)

• Know about the text chat feature (This feature should be disabled by the teacher for our students. However, participating in appropriate texting/chatting is part of good digital citizenship and is a life skill that students in grades 6-12/adults should begin to learn in grades PK-5.)

• Let your child know that he/she can talk to you, the teacher, the school counselors, and/or the school administrators if he/she sees or hears something inappropriate, witnesses cyberbullying, etc. 

• Your child does NOT need his/her own Zoom account in order to participate in our teachers’ live Zoom sessions/classes.

• Zoom has had its issues with security since the global pandemic began and more and more schools began using it for live instruction. Zoom has been working on security upgrades. However, these upgrades should never replace adult supervision and monitoring. 

• Our staff is working hard to ensure that their Zoom sessions/classes are as secure as possible by disabling certain features within their Zoom accounts and enabling other features. We are always monitoring student behavior while class is in session and good digital citizenship is expected at all times.

• Beware of “Zoombombing” that can occur on any social media app including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. Zoombombing is when someone (including students) shares, says, or does something inappropriate during a live video online while the group is in session. Report immediately. This is a violation of the SCCPSS Code of Conduct and there are consequences for inappropriate use of technology and/or student online behavior.

• Remind your child about his/her digital footprint. This means that everything that anyone does online (types, videos/records, logs onto) leaves behind a digital “footprint.” We want our footprints to be good ones at all times if we are showing good digital citizenship.

• Read and research together with your child. This virtual learning  is all new for us - students, parents, teachers, and school staff - but we are all in this together. As a united team, we can make this experience a safe and fun one for our children. 

• Here are a few good links:  

• www.parents.com/news/zoom-bombing

• www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/talking-child-online-safety/

• https://www.cyberwise.org/parents