Student Privacy | Sooke School District

Today’s students have grown up with technology and it is a regular part of most of their daily lives. By bringing learning technology into the classroom, we can tap into our student’s interests and build on their developing skills to create innovate, creative, and engaging learning environments that support student achievement and well-being.

SD62 supports technology-enabled learning environments while protecting student privacy and personal information by:

ensuring student access to technology and internet resources are governed by a combination of policies, informed parental consent, and technological safeguards at the network, device, and browser level.
providing all students and staff access to Microsoft Office 365 for Education and Google Workspace for Education.
implementing a comprehensive and ongoing approval process of web-based teaching and learning applications.
providing all students and staff access to the Internet through the district Wi-Fi network. This network is protected by appropriate technological safeguards at the network level.
providing students with age-appropriate instruction on digital citizenship and the safe use of technology.

Below you will find the answers to some commonly asked questions about your child’s privacy and security when using technology in the Sooke School District.

If you have additional questions, please email: foippa@sd62.bc.ca 

FAQ's

The Sooke School District is committed to protecting student privacy and personal information through the following measures:
- Student information is stored in MyEducationBC (MyED BC), a secure student information system set up by the province of British Columbia. Security is guided by the rules and regulations of the School Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA/FIPPA).
- Informed parental consent is required for software and cloud-base applications that use student personally identifiable information (PII) or collect student data.
- Informed media consent is required for the collection, retainment, use, and disclosure of photographs, videos, images and/or names of students and groups of students.
- Privacy Impact Assessments are completed for all projects that involve personal information as required by FOIPPA/FIPPA.
- Required Security and Privacy Awareness training for staff.
The District relies on the following provincial regulations and frameworks to determine age-appropriate access to digital skills and digital content.

Digital skills and literacy are embedded into the B.C. Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies (ADST) curriculum for Grades 6-12. For more information about this curriculum and the specific content and competencies covered at each grade level visit: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/adst

Educators may also use the BC Digital Literacy Framework developed by the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care. This framework for Grades K-12 helps and guides educators with integrating technology and digital literacy-related activities into their classroom practice.

Educators can also find support from Focused Education Resources, the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards for Students and the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media to determine age-appropriate access to digital skills and content.
The District provides students in Grade 4 with the opportunity to participate in the Kids in the Know program. This program is the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s national safety education program. The program engages students with interactive activities to help build skills that increase their personal safety and reduce their risk of victimization online and offline. If requested, this program is also available to educators and students in grades K-8 through our Safe and Healthy Schools department.

Teachers also have access to the resources provided by the BC government’s erase program as part of their erase cyberbullying education program.
SD62 utilizes multiple software-level safeguards that are provided by the Ministry of Education Next Generation Network (NGN) and Enhanced Cybersecurity Services (ECS) architecture.  

All internet access via district-provided devices passes through a ministry-provided Palo Alto firewall.  This firewall has DNS filters and block lists for inappropriate sites (e.g. adult sites, spam, phishing, etc.).  The lists are updated nightly by Palo Alto based on their security services in combination with Ministry-provided guidance.

However, these lists do not block all access to inappropriate content. For example, a student who has access to email (legitimately used for schoolwork) could also use this to share an inappropriate graphic.  If a student has a personal device and a data plan, they can bypass all the safeguards. Therefore, the District believes that education on the appropriate use of technology coupled with informed parental consent plays a greater role in ensuring age-appropriate usage of digital resources.
Many software applications have been vetted for privacy and security. This process is outlined below. It is not possible however for the District to monitor or regulate the use of all web-based/online applications. The District addresses this risk through policy, education, training, and process.

PC, iOS (iPad) and Chromebook Application Vetting Process:
- All requests for PC, iOS and ChromeOS applications including add-ons and extensions, are reviewed to ensure they meet District privacy standards. This includes a review of the application’s privacy policy and terms and conditions. In cases where personally identifiable information (PII) or storage of student data is involved, a Privacy Impact Assessment is completed.
- If approved, PC applications and software are added to district PCs by the IT department. Applications can only be added to district PCs through this process.
- If approved, iOS applications are added to a district catalogue. Only iOS applications from this catalogue can be added to District iOS devices (iPads).
- If approved, ChromeOS applications are added to District Chromebooks by the IT department or are ‘whitelisted’ in the case of Chrome extensions and add-ons. Applications can only be added to district Chromebooks through this process.
All usage logs can be accessed and monitored by District IT staff upon request. This applies to District devices and/or accounts (example District supplied Google accounts). This also applies to personal devices that access the district network (wifi).

The District does not monitor or access devices that are not connected to the District via a district device, network or account.