Starting in March 2025, Google is requiring parental or guardian consent for all apps/services they classify as “Additional Services”. These additional services may include features that allow for online tools to collect and share personally identifiable information, interactions with people outside of the school, or contain content that is not school-appropriate. For these reasons, Google is requiring parental or guardian consent for students to use these services. 

As a result of this Google policy change, our IT team is changing how students access certain Google Additional Services starting March 1, 2025. These changes are necessary to ensure compliance and maintain the highest standards of data protection for our students.

What's Changing?

• Google Core Services are NOT affected. Students and teachers can continue using these services as they currently do. These services are covered by our Data Privacy Agreement with Google and include:

• Google Additional Services will be disabled for student accounts at the end of the day on February 28, 2025. This means students will no longer be able to directly access these services while logged into their district Google accounts, including:

How Will This Affect Students? 

• Students will no longer be able to directly access or use the Google Additional Services listed above using their MURSD Google accounts.

• Some of these services will still work when embedded into Google Core Services, for example:

  • Teachers can embed YouTube videos in Google Classroom and Slides. (NOTE: there are known issues with embedding videos and the IT Team is working on it)

  • While the website will be blocked, Translate features still work in Chrome and Docs

How will This Affect Teachers and Staff?

• These changes only apply to student accounts. Teachers and Staff members will retain access to Google Additional Services for professional use.

• Services for Instruction: Teachers will still be able to use their own MURSD Google accounts to present information from these services to students. For example, Earth and Maps can still be used by teachers to display information to students.

• YouTube for Instruction: Teachers will still be able to use YouTube for instructional purposes, with no restrictions to accessing the website. However, students will only be able to access YouTube videos when embedded in other tools, like Slides or Classroom.

• Adjustment to Practice: Ryan Robidoux (Director of Learning and Innovation) is working with teachers to find the best solutions for any classes affected by these changes. He's already reached out to those who responded to the January survey. If you haven't connected with him yet, please schedule a time to brainstorm ideas and ensure continued student learning.

Protecting our students’ data is a top priority. These IT changes are part of our ongoing effort to make sure all digital tools in MURSD are safe and secure. We've discussed these changes with other districts and technology leaders in Massachusetts to make this plan. While we understand these changes may impact some aspects of student learning, we are confident this impact will be minimal. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Ryan Robidoux (rrobidoux@mursd.org) or set up a time to meet.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in prioritizing student data privacy for all of our students in Mendon and Upton!