Leechburg Area School District to take closer look at student emails via Google service

Leechburg Area School District officials plan to take a closer look at student emails.

District technology director Katie Robson said the district will be looking for safety concerns such as online predators, adult content, cyber bullying, drug use, depression, suicidal thoughts and more.

Katie Robson said administrators will use a monitoring system via a Google program called Bark. The service monitors text messages, email, YouTube and more than 30 apps and platforms.

Sold on the retail market as “the best comprehensive parental control tool for families,” it is available to school districts for free.

Leechburg Area students are enrolled in the Google suite of products. Bark can monitor the students’ school-issued accounts whether they access them on their district-issued device or their personal devices.

“We planned to implement this technology during the school year,” Robson said. “Recent events in the United States moved this project to the top of the priority list. I brought it to the district’s attention as something that we may want to implement as a free product to help combat violence and harm to our students.”

“Recent events” include a Michigan high school shooting in which a 15-year-old boy is charged with killing four students and wounding others. The shooting took place Nov. 30 at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit. The teen’s parents also have been charged. Investigators say the boy displayed warning signs of violence for days before the attack.

Leechburg Area School Board President Neill Brady said he believes the service will help address students’ concerns and possible mental health issues before such an emergency takes place.

“If they’re talking about it, hopefully we’ll be able to prevent a tragic event before it happens,” he said.

The district also has counselors, psychologists and other social help, as well as additional resources through the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, to help students.

There are 683 students in the district. All are assigned an email account when enrolled, and that account is active until they graduate or transfer, Robson said.

“Authorized reviewers such as the guidance counselors and principals will be alerted to possible abuse types via email,” Robson said of the process. “If Bark detects a severe or imminent threat, such as suicidal intention or impending violence, their employees contact our school officials directly.

“LASD officials will treat these alerts as they would treat any disciplinary or behavioral issue with a student. They will assess the alert, determine the severity and contact parents accordingly.”

Board Vice President Anthony Shea sees Bark as a boon for district safety.

“I think it will be a good way to inform the principals,” he said. “This is just at the beginning edge of this, so we have a lot to learn.”

Shea, who is an independent contractor working in information technology for PNC Bank, said implementing a new system may require patience.

“It will take some time to figure out and normalize the process,” he said. “I’m very curious to see how this plays out over time. It’s an emerging technology. There are bound to be bugs and probably privacy concerns (and) all kinds of different things that we’re going to have to deal with to be ‘on the bleeding edge.’ It will normalize, but we’re not there yet.”

Another phase of implementation, once all the bugs are worked out, would be to create a parent portal and set up alerts for parents and guardians to monitor their students’ messages.

“The safety and security of our students is our biggest priority,” Robson said. “We employ many levels of data security to protect our students and staff from nefarious outsiders who would try to compromise our data or seek to disrupt the educational experience. Bark is an additional layer of security that enables us to keep students safe.”