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Bradford district to notify parents after new tracking law takes effect Oct. 24; administrators seek legal guidance
Summary
An administrator told the board Bradford will begin tracking students’ district-account technology activity under a new state law effective Oct. 24 and will notify parents; administrators said the law’s wording may lead to many notifications and they are working with counsel and statewide associations to refine implementation.
An operations administrator (speaker 5) briefed the Bradford Exempted Village Board on Oct. 15 about a recently enacted state law the district said will take effect Oct. 24 and requires the district to notify parents when the district monitors students’ computer activity on district accounts.
The administrator said the law’s language, as written, could generate large volumes of parent notifications. "If we go by the letter of the law, parents are literally going to get anywhere between 10 and 50 emails a day saying we tracked your students' progress this way," the administrator said, adding that the district is working with legal counsel, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA), the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) and other superintendents to determine how best to comply.
The district plans to send a letter to parents next week explaining how it will monitor district-related technology activity and when notifications would occur. The administrator said staff met with state Rep. Steve Hoffman to discuss the law’s intent and that many officials expect the legislature to refine the statute after the upcoming elections; in the meantime, the district is focused on following the law while avoiding excessive, non-actionable messages to families.
Why it matters: The change affects how families are notified about online risks and how schools balance student safety, privacy and administrative burden. The board discussed timing and communications steps but did not take immediate policy action; administrators said they will continue legal consultation and plan to issue parent communications.
(Attribution: quotes and paraphrases in this article are taken from statements by the operations/administrator (speaker 5) and related discussion at the Oct. 15 meeting.)
