Dear CJP families, Almost a year into the pandemic and our children have, if they were not already, become incredibly proficient with technology. It is impressive to watch them navigate a smart phone, tablet or computer. In many cases, they are more comfortable with technology than we are.  One of the things that I ponder is “who teaches digital citizenship to our children?” Often, I get a response of the classroom teacher is responsible.  Then I follow up by asking, “Who teaches manners?”  Of course everyone says manners is everyone’s responsibility.  The more we see “digital citizenship” as simply “citizenship” and part of what we do, the closer we will get to realizing it is all of our responsibility.  It is pretty amazing to see when schools focus on this, how much they truly empower the voice and genius of their own students as shared in the responsibility of making great choices about digital citizenship. Much like manners, digital citizenship is first introduced at home. Often at a very young age. Further, the ongoing conversation about consent and access to digital platforms must occur at home. Every family identifies and maintains specific expectations of digital citizenship that includes family beliefs, culture, religion, access and maturity (this list is not exhaustive).  Certainly the basics, such as ethics around age limitations for apps, social media sites and games need to be carefully considered by families.  In school, we use the Google Education Suite. This is complimented by a variety of educational apps that must pass by the scrutiny of our Software Asset Management (SAM) department before they are approved for use with children. Some of the details we look for are the advised age for users, what data is collected by the APP, and where information collected is stored.  I wonder, what information do families need to agree to, to download an APP onto a device for their children?   At school, the Google Education Suite is used daily by most students and staff.  If children use any of these platforms inappropriately, we can immediately turn their access to technology off.  Sharing passwords, sending e-mails and chat messages that include swear words, racial slurs, bullying and unkind suggestions, accessing banned internet sites are all reasons to remove access to technology at CJP. We monitor all of these things diligently and move swiftly, should we need to.   Too often we are asked by worried parents to search  student’s social media sites or chat logs for problematic language. The school is asked to take away the access to Social Media platforms such as “Twitch, Discord, Snapchat, Tiktok, etc” or require students to reduce their time on “Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox and Among Us” (Again none of these are exhaustive lists).  This however, is the work of the family, not the school. We are ever hopeful families fully understand the dangers associated with all of the social media platforms and games they use. We are hopeful all families are diligent in their supervision of their children when they are online. And we are hopeful families will do the hard work of limiting or stopping access to platforms and games that are dangerous, explicit, inappropriate, unsafe or beyond the age of their children.  This is hard work, but, it must be done.  We are grateful our community engages in student safety as a top priority.  If you have questions about digital citizenship, please connect with your classroom teacher. Please do not hesitate to remove all access to the social media sites: Discord, Twitch, Snapchat and Tiktok. These are neither recommended by the school or used in any way by teachers for learning. In fact, we actively discourage their use simply because of student safety. Thank you for your diligent supervision of your child when they are online. Have a wonderful weekend, Dr. Bettesworth and Ms. Sharpe