With the passage of Senate Bill 181, we are required to establish one or more means of communicating with students that is traceable no later than June 27, 2025.  We are working to set up Parent Square for our main communication tool.  We will also be able to use email and other Google applications. Senate bill 181 does not allow our teachers, classified staff, or volunteers to communicate with students outside of our approved traceable systems, so we will not be able to use texts, personal email accounts, or social media.  When we post something to our social media account as we are doing here, we will be removing the ability to comment so that we are not establishing two-way communication with students responding to our informational posts.

You may find that teachers and staff are beginning to remove students as friends on social media.  Please don’t take this personally.  Because our staff are not allowed to communicate with students through social media, this is necessary.   We know that many of you have close friends who are teachers, staff members, or volunteers within our district and it will take a bit of adjusting as we navigate this new law.

There are a few family relationships that this law provides as an exception.  These are: parents (birth parents, legal guardians, and other persons or agencies responsible for a student) as well as brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts, uncle, or grandparents.

While this law does not apply to parent communication, we do have to consider communication with parents as educational records, and we have to be able to track those communications as well.  Therefore, our staff is being asked to use email or Parent Square for parent communication.

As we get our new communication tool set up, we will continue to use School Messenger for one-way communication to parents.  This system will be active until August 1, 2025.  We will then be using Parent Square for one-way communication such as school closings, activity announcements, etc.  We will provide you with information as we learn more about our new system to ensure you are connected.

When we have a full listing of approved communication tools, we will let everyone know what they are.  We want to assure parents and students that as we make the change to follow the new law that SB181 established, we will still find ways to communicate with parents and students to keep everyone informed and engaged in their child’s education.