Ashland City Schools to add Google 'additional services' consent to enrollment forms; staff warn lack of consent could limit access

District staff on March 24, 2025 told the Ashland City School District Board of Education they plan to include Google’s parental-consent template for “additional services” in the 2025–26 final forms, and explained what that will mean for students and classroom instruction.

Philip McNall (staff) said Google separates its offerings into “core services” — Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Classroom — and “additional services” such as YouTube, Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Translate. McNall said Google’s template explains what information the company collects and asks parents to sign if the district wants students to access the additional services with their school accounts. “We could just put this into their final forms… and it just becomes a thing that parents can sign,” McNall said.

When asked about the impact on students, McNall said: “It would leave them out of opportunities. Basically, it would mean that we can’t create a Google account for that student.” He added that students without school Google accounts could still use district devices for tasks that do not require accounts, such as some state testing, but would need alternate arrangements for the frequent, account-based work teachers assign in Google Classroom or Google Docs.

McNall addressed privacy and advertising concerns raised in the district and nationally. He said district usage is limited — roughly seven of Google’s approximately 60 additional services are used locally — and that Google’s documentation states it would not build individual advertising profiles on students or resell student data; advertising on additional services is tied to page content rather than a personalized student profile, McNall said. “They would not build a profile on a student and use that to send customized ads to that student,” he said.

Superintendent Mike Paramore and other administrators said they prefer using Google’s template because it explains the details and is efficient to include in next year’s online final forms. Paramore emphasized that the district is a “Google school” and that not having an account would make daily instruction more cumbersome for affected students.

The discussion produced no formal vote; staff described the plan as a next step to add Google’s parental-consent language to enrollment final forms for 2025–26 so parents can opt in to additional services. McNall and Paramore advised that parents with questions could contact district technology staff for more information and that the district would provide alternate instruction when a parent does not grant consent.

Why it matters: Adding the consent template affects student access to commonly used instructional tools (Google Classroom, Docs, Drive and shared files). Students without school Google accounts will require alternate workflows and may miss collaborative, account-based assignments until an alternate solution is arranged.

District staff recommended using Google’s provided template verbatim to ensure the notice includes the company’s explanatory language and avoids rewording that could omit detail. The board did not vote on a policy at the meeting; staff presented the template and the operational implications and indicated they would include it with next year’s final forms unless the board directs otherwise.

Direct quotes (from meeting transcript): - Philip McNall: “It would leave them out of opportunities. Basically, it would mean that we can’t create a Google account for that student.” - Philip McNall: “They would not build a profile on a student and use that to send customized ads to that student.”

Next steps: Staff to add Google’s parental-consent template to the 2025–26 online final forms and to produce guidance for parents who decline consent so teachers can implement alternate assignments.