Education IT News — March 28, 2014
By Amy Taylor, contributing writer
Schools adopt real-time cameras and communications technologies as ways to communication with police. Also in the news, the Florida Senate passes a bill prohibiting the collection of some student data.
Baltimore County Employs Real-Time Cameras For School Security
The Baltimore Sun said that officials unveiled $3.7 million in Baltimore County school security improvements, including a OneView camera system that will make security footage available in real time to county police and the county schools’ Department of School Safety and Security.
Safety Technology, CopSync, Breaks Into Massachusetts School Districts
CBS Boston reports on CopSync Technology, a new communications tool designed to improve school safety. The technology sends a message to an officer when initiated, relaying specifics of the incident, along with the location of the incident alerted. Saugus just went online with the technology, the first district in Massachusetts to adopt the safety initiative that currently operates in hundred of districts across the country.
Student Data Privacy Bill Passes Through Florida Senate
Brandenton Herald said that the Florida Senate passed a bill that forbids school districts from gathering certain types of student data. The bill bans school districts from collecting or retaining information on political or religious affiliation of students and calls for creating a new student identification system.
Education IT Talking Points
Campus Technology compiled 6 Ways to Be a Better Online Teacher, with special emphasis on the importance of continual digital training among instructors.
Philadelphia Magazine said that the Mother of Abducted 5-Year-Old Sues Teacher and District following an incident at the school where her daughter was allowed to leave with a stranger and was sexually assaulted.
The Herald News reports that a new student safety protocol is now in place following a security incident that left two students missing from Mary Fonseca Elementary School. The building’s surveillance system was not operating, awaiting a replacement part, when the two kindergarten students walked away from the school unnoticed.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Education IT Resource Center.