Dear Parent or Guardian:

Our priority at Watertown City School District is to provide every student with a quality education in a safe learning environment, whether in the classroom or online. Towards our goal of helping keep your child safer and more focused on their learning when online, Watertown City School District has adopted Lightspeed Alert™ as part of our school’s holistic student safety and well-being program.

This letter is to provide you with information about this service and how it will help Watertown City School District keep students safer and more focused on their academics when using a school-issued device or logged into the school network.

What is Lightspeed Alert?

Lightspeed Alert is a threat detection solution that monitors students’ online activity for signs of self-harm, violence, and bullying. Lightspeed safety specialists analyze each alert and escalate imminent threats for immediate intervention, enabling early prevention to protect and support student safety and well-being.

For more than 20 years, Lightspeed Systems® has been dedicated to promoting the education and safety of all students through their rich ecosystem of cloud-based solutions: web filtering, student safety monitoring, classroom and device management, and edtech application management. Presently, Lightspeed Systems serves more than 20 million students in 28,000 schools throughout 39 countries.

How does Lightspeed Alert work?

Lightspeed Alert is a software product that uses artificial intelligence to scan activity on school-owned devices, and school productivity suites, as well as Internet searches on personal devices that are logged into the school network, for concerning words or phrases and sends real-time notifications to Lightspeed Alert safety specialists. The safety specialists evaluate all alerts, conduct threat assessments, and escalate to district safety personnel and/or law enforcement. All valid threats will be investigated by designated Watertown City School District personnel in accordance with Watertown City School District student safety policies and procedures.

How is Watertown City School District using Lightspeed Alert?

Watertown City School District has adopted Lightspeed Alert to:

• Protect students from exposure to harmful content and safety threats online
• Identify and address worrisome trends and threatening or concerning behaviors to help prevent targeted violence at schools, address bullying, promote student well-being and improve school climate
• Help districts direct mental health resources to those who need them, when they need them

What are the school’s responsibilities?

Watertown City School District selected Lightspeed Alert to help our students stay safer everywhere. We will work with students during class time to help teach them digital responsibility and safety. Additionally, we will train designated Watertown City School District personnel on how to use Lightspeed Alert and about our student safety protocols, as well as policies and procedures to protect student privacy.

What are my parental/guardian and child’s responsibilities?

We ask that students follow the Watertown City School District student use policies when using their school-managed accounts and school-issued devices. When a student is off campus, parents are responsible for supervising internet access and usage. We encourage you to discuss appropriate internet usage with your child, and to reinforce lessons of digital citizenship with them.

We also highly encourage you to report any potential cyberbullying or other sensitive issues to your student’s school leadership.

Does Lightspeed Alert monitor my child’s personal device?

Watertown City School District and Lightspeed Alert may monitor web browsing activity originating from a personal device if it accesses a school resource, including connecting to a school network or using school software systems and learning applications.

How does Watertown City School District and Lightspeed Systems help protect my child’s privacy?

Only designated school/district personnel and trained Lightspeed Alert safety specialists will see the content of any alerts in the Lightspeed Alert interface or within email notifications. All school/district personnel will always adhere to Watertown City School District’s student privacy standards. In addition, Lightspeed Systems is committed to responsible, secure, and compliant use of data. All their practices, including use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Lightspeed Alert monitoring, comply with all applicable laws and adhere to strict data privacy and security practices including compliance with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule) and social media platform agreements.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your student’s principal or our Data Privacy Officer, Tina Lane – tlane@watertowncsd.org.

Warmly,

Dr. Larry Schmiegel, Superintendent

Watertown City School District