Dear GCA Families,
It’s been another productive day at GCA as teachers and staff finalize plans for the roll-out of our Distance Learning program tomorrow. You’ve received an email from your student’s Principal, and soon you will hear from their teachers to get them started.
I wanted to use today’s update to focus on online safety as a vital component of protecting the health and safety of our students.
As we move to a platform that will require more time on technology devices, you may have some questions or concerns about your child’s time online. For a lot of our students, they will be on their computers for an extended period of time, sometimes without constant teacher or parental supervision.
We want to point out that because our students will not be connecting to our school wi-fi, their time online will not be monitored by our IT department nor protected by our firewall. Therefore, the responsibility shifts to you as parents to ensure children are navigating safely and conducting themselves appropriately online. We’d like to offer some strategies to make this a positive, healthy experience for parents and students:
Communication
- Have open, honest and ongoing dialogue with your kids about their digital presence and footprint. These articles may help generate conversation:
Monitoring
- There are a number of options available to help limit and monitor your child’s online use, a few are:
These products can provide insight as to how your kids are using the internet and what sites they are visiting while online. Also, smartphones and tablets have the option to limit both ‘private’ viewing (where sites that are visited are not recorded in the viewing history) and the ability to delete the viewing history on the device. Please refer to the website of the specific device to access instructions on how to manage settings that work for your family.
Each family will determine what the most appropriate use of online communication and social media is for their own children. Consider parental controls and settings to limit contact from people they do not know.
We understand that conversations and decisions around screen time and technology use can be difficult. Seek out ideas from trusted sources to guide and inspire your family;
Focus on the Family
and
Axis
are two that may be helpful. It is our prayer that parents will continue to communicate and educate their students about the use of technology to ensure that they are safe and secure online.
As we adjust to the changes around us - new schedules, new ways of teaching and learning, new ways of interacting with the public (
or not
) - let’s remember to be kind to ourselves in the process. This new learning process or schedule may not be perfect on day one, or two. Each family will get into a rhythm that works for them. And remember we are here to support you. Together, and with the grace of God, our students will learn and thrive in the coming days and weeks!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Stanford Hielema
GCA Head of School
