CMS Student Social Media Access on School Device

Social media is an important element in the lives of teenagers and adults.  At Cozad Community Schools, we believe that building a positive online presence is a very important skill for our students to develop as they face an increasingly digital future.  Unfortunately, there are aspects of social media which can be harmful and inappropriate for teenagers, particularly those of middle school age.  It is all too easy for young people to make mistakes which they may have to live with for the rest of their lives.  We want to work closely with our students and parents to help teach and develop the skills needed to create a positive online presence.

At Cozad Middle School, students are assigned a device to use in school for appropriate school work. With parent permission, students are allowed to take the device home outside of school hours.  At all times, school device access to the internet is controlled, monitored, and filtered by the school.  However, no method of filtering is 100% effective and students require adult supervision as they learn to use internet resources appropriately.  For this reason, all social media access by CMS student devices is blocked by the school. 

Our goal is to teach middle school students how to develop good, positive online habits, but we feel this is only possible with proper adult guidance and supervision.  For this reason, we have implemented a system in which CMS parents may elect to allow their child to access social media using their school device (outside of regular school hours), but this will only be enabled by the parent requesting that the school add social media privileges to their student’s school account.  In making this request, both the parent and the student must agree to certain terms.  Note that your child must be 13 years of age or older before any social media access on their student device will be allowed. 

If you would like your child to have access to social media outside of school hours on their school-issued device, both you and your student must agree to the terms and sign the Student Device Social Media Access Agreement.  By signing the agreement, you are acknowledging that you are responsible for the supervision of your child’s activity on their school device, outside of school hours.  Access to the internet will still be filtered by the school, but access to social media sites such as Facebook, twitter, and Instagram will be allowed.  Without a signed agreement returned to the school, no social media access will be allowed on your child’s school-issued device.  Please note that even with a signed agreement, violating any of the terms of the agreement will result in the removal of social media privileges on your child’s account.

The Student Device Social Media Access Agreement is available in PDF format here, or a paper copy may be picked up by the student in the CMS office.  Until an agreement signed by both parent or guardian and the student is on file in the middle school office, social media access outside of school hours will be blocked on school devices.

Please discuss these terms with your child before you sign the agreement.  If you have any questions, please contact our technology staff by emailing dave.evertson@cozadschools.net or patty.wolfe@cozadschools.net, or you may wish to call Dave at 308-784-2746 or Patty at 308-784-2744.