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Rockcastle County board approves district list of traceable communication apps to comply with Senate Bill 181
Summary
The board approved a district list of approved, traceable communication platforms for employees and volunteers to use with students, and staff said parent consent forms and training will accompany implementation; failure to use approved platforms or to have consent on file could trigger disciplinary action under the law.
The Rockcastle County Board of Education approved a list of approved, traceable communication platforms to comply with Senate Bill 181 and directed staff to notify parents and train employees about the changes.
Under SB 181, district employees and volunteers must use board‑approved, traceable apps to communicate with students; otherwise the communication is a violation unless a parent consent form is on file. "If they communicate with students outside this board approved policy list, then they are in violation of the law. Unless they have a parent consent form signed and on file," Dr. Ballinger said.
District staff read a list of approved tools during the meeting that they said employees and volunteers may use: district email accounts; Google Workspace for Education (including Google Classroom); Microsoft 365; a new text‑messaging platform (as named in the district reading); platforms used to share district website and social posts (noting these will be one‑way only with comments disabled); Infinite Campus; Pear Assessment; Zello; Imagine; Edgenuity; Blackboard; Canvas; dual‑enrollment platforms; and GoGuardian Classroom. The district said school‑level social media pages are permitted as long as comments are turned off; "a student could not comment on a district Facebook post because then we would be electronically communicating with students," Dr. Ballinger said.
Staff warned of operational and equity issues in the law’s current language. One concern raised was the law’s definition of "family," which district staff said could prevent employees from texting stepchildren or foster children without separate parent consent. "It's great on the surface, but there's issues that we're gonna have to they're gonna have to work through," a speaker said.
Consequences for violating the rules were described: certified staff would be reported to the standards board for investigation, classified employees would be handled through internal personnel processes, and volunteers found in violation could be barred from volunteering.
The board approved the listed platforms by voice vote. Staff said training for employees is already underway and a parent communication about the approved tools will be sent after the board’s vote.
