Communication Guidelines

The following are guidelines for district 155 staff, who will be communicating with students, parents, and coworkers during our period of remote learning.   The purpose of the guidelines is to give clear direction on communicating as effectively as possible during this unusual time, while protecting the privacy of students, staff, and other communication participants. 

When communicating with students or parents:

 - Use conference calls via Google Hangouts as opposed to calling or receiving a call directly.  This will ensure that private phone numbers are not exposed and that all interaction is logged.   To be clear, this means that staff should set up a conference call via Google Hangouts  and schedule a time for everyone to "dial into" or "connect" to that conference. Because each Hangouts conference has a distinct phone and pin number, this method will ensure that personal phone numbers remain undisclosed. 

To set up a Google Hangout with an audio and/or video conference call option, follow the instructions here.  

 

- Use Google Hangouts along with Google Classroom or Canvas to help facilitate remote learning

Though many districts are utilizing ZOOM conferencing, there are questions regarding FERPA and HIPAA compliance for those (like D155) that do not have a formal usage agreement in place with ZOOM.  We are working on executing this agreement; however, ZOOM is currently inundated with new customer requests, and executing an agreement may take some time.  For this reason, ZOOM should only be used for communication between staff members.  And, remote learning with students should be facilitated with Google Hangouts. 

For more information on how to utilize Hangouts with Canvas or Google Classroom click here.