Technology Resources for Families

Digital Wellness - Connected & Balanced

Our students live in a digitally enhanced world, both in their social and learning spaces. Today’s kids have 24/7 access to people, information, and ideas with digital technologies. As parents, in partnership with educators, it’s our responsibility to help students stay safe and become constructive digital citizens while utilizing online resources. Empowering our learners in understanding the best ways to engage with others online in a safe and ethical way is critical.

In Green Bay Area Public Schools (GBAPS), we value the rich learning, innovative creation, and communication experiences that technology brings to our students, classrooms and families' lives.  To support student learning, each student is assigned a district issues device.  In accordance with district policy and federal law, student devices are monitored to ensure the well being and safety of all users.

Together, the district and families can assist students in learning appropriate ways to interact within a digital environment for learning and entertainment purposes.  We believe that with parents and guardians as our partners, we can help our students gain skills, understanding, and dispositions that will enable them to be responsible and safe in digital environments.

Parenting in the Digital Age

It is important that students have set guidelines and expectations when using devices.  Guidelines and expectations should include screen time allowances and an understanding of student data privacy.  Parenting resources such as Bark, an app to support parental monitoring of personal devices, may assist families in protecting students outside of the school environment.

As expectations are placed on student’s use of technology, it is also important for families to model healthy use of technology in everyday environments.  

• Be present and moderate use - Enjoy the moments you spend with your family in a screen free environment. Monitor and set boundaries of your technology use to fully engage in human interaction. It is okay to take a break from all the texts, notifications, games, and shows.
•  Set expectations and model good digital behavior - Establish, enforce, and model the technology-related guidelines and expectations that you set for your children. Children learn from the behavior of adults. Model positive digital behavior by refraining from using your phone while driving, setting your phone aside while eating at the dinner table, or only placing positive posts on social media. Children will appreciate seeing you model positive use of technology.  
•  Do not over share - Families should never over share information about themselves or their children online. Have a conversation with your children about what you would like to post about them online. It is best to ensure there will not be any regrets years from now.
• Remain informed - Parents are invited to view a recording of Digital Safety & The Dangers of Sextoration, a co-hosted community event. Note the recording contains sensitive content and is just over an hour in length. 
• Be prepared to take action - If an explicit image or video of a minor has been shared or threatened to be shared online, help is available. Take It Down is a free, confidential service operated by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). It allows youth, parents, or trusted adults to create unique digital fingerprints (hashes) of explicit images or videos directly from their own device without uploading the actual media. Online platforms use these hashes to detect, remove, and prevent the spread of explicit content involving minors.

Screen Time Considerations

Screen time is a great time for bonding with your child. Take interest in their online activities. Play online games or watch TV shows and movies together. Co-interacting with screens is a great way to stay connected to your child. When your child is using a device independently, consider the following screen time considerations:

• Device location - Monitor the use of devices by creating a central location in your home for device usage. 
• App usage - Be aware of the apps on your child’s device, who your child is interacting with through these apps, and the amount of time spent on apps. Be aware of beneficial apps, such as; mindfulness and time management apps, and potentially dangerous apps. Review different mindfulness applications that are designed to help manage stress and anxiety effectively and age-appropriate app and game options.
• Device bedtimes - Turn off devices at least 30 minutes prior to bedtime. Create a common charging station where all devices can be charged during sleep hours.
• Time limits - Set time limits for your children to interact with devices while at home to avoid internet addiction. Utilize resources from the American Academy of Pediatrics  to create a family media plan and calculate media time for individual family members. Screen time contracts may also be considered to support device usage agreements. Incorporate screen-free activities as part of home routines or explore Pro-Social Video games for the whole family!

GBAPS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Plan

The Green Bay Area Public Schools (GBAPS) is committed to implementing a consistent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Plan throughout our district. AI is becoming a major part of the world, and we are safely bringing it into our schools.

Learn more about the GBAPS AI Implementation Plan

Additional Resources

Curated resources from Common Sense Media include instructional resources for students and families as well as digital citizenship content to help keep students stay safe online. The District encourages all stakeholders to model positive online behavior and abide by Policy 363.2 - Responsible, Acceptable, and Safe use of Technology Resources. (To view the policy, please visit BoardDocs and search for the policy).

Repair or Replacement of District Issued Devices

Should a district issued device need to be repaired or replaced based on misuse, a $20 fine will be applied for a replacement charger, a $50 fine will be applied for replacement of a screen or device repair, and $100 fine will be applied for a replacement device.