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Parent representative raises privacy concerns about messaging app used by Bethel High JV soccer
Summary
At the April 1 meeting, Alexander Smith spoke on behalf of a Bethel High guardian to allege a team messaging app lacked parental access, allowed a varsity coach administrator privileges to delete chats, and was tied to a code-of-conduct the speaker said limited student speech and risked retaliation; no district response was recorded at the podium.
Alexander Smith addressed the board during public comment April 1 on behalf of a Bethel High guardian, raising privacy and procedural concerns about a messaging app used by the junior varsity soccer team.
"They were using an app that does not have parental access," Smith said, and he asserted that the junior varsity team could not message its JV coach and that Coach True was an administrator who could delete chats without an ability to restore them. Smith also said the team was presented with a student-athlete code of conduct that, in his words, "required that students refrain from speech and that students could be remove in vicinity of arrest," and he expressed concern that following the app and contract could single out a student for retaliation.
Smith said the guardian, Ashley Earnest, had raised the issue with the Bethel director and that they were told the student could delete the app and decline to sign the code but that both choices could invite retaliation. The transcript records Smith's concerns and requests that the board or administration clarify why district counsel had not reviewed the contracts and why an app with the ability to delete private chats was being used.
The public-comment procedures announced at the meeting note that the board will not publicly engage with speakers at the podium and that matters of response are directed to the superintendent for research and reply. No immediate response from the administration was recorded on the transcript at the time Smith spoke.
Joe Ford also spoke during public comment to pitch an energy-career curriculum partnership and offered to remain after the meeting to share contact information and follow up with staff.
