Vestavia Hills City Schools

G Suite for Education is a communication and collaboration educational tool, hosted by Google and managed by Vestavia Hills City Schools (VHCS).  G Suite for Education provides the ability for VHCS students, faculty, and staff to communicate, store files and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in real time from school or home, all within a secure, private, VHCS owned domain.  Anytime, anywhere access lets users be productive at school, home and anywhere there is Internet connection.  Because Google Apps runs in a web browser, students can work from any family computer with Internet access without having to purchase new software.  Students are able to easily upload and share files via PC, Mac, and Linux computers and popular formats such as .doc, .xls, .ppt, and .pdf are supported.  

 

 

A VHCS G Suite for Education account will:

• Give students a digital workspace with unlimited storage space
• Give students access to current technology applications
• Give students the ability to work on their documents both at school and at home - anytime and anywhere from any Internet connected device
• Facilitate "paperless" transfer of work between students and teachers

Does Google Have Access to My Child's Personal Information?

VHCS takes security and privacy of student information very seriously.  VHCS G Suite for Education is not accessible by anyone outside of VHCS and Google does not request any personal information from students.  VHCS will not provide personal student data to Google (i.e. birth date, address, phone number, grades, or test scores). 

 

Students, faculty, and staff are the sole owners of their own work.  All participants still hold copyright on any materials created through G Suite for Education provided the participant is the sole owner of that material.

 

 

VHCS provides our students with a Gmail account through G Suite for Education.  Email is provided to our students so they can easily share their work with teachers and collaborate on documents, presentations, and spreadsheets with other students.  VHCS monitors student email accounts for key words.  Students are not able to send or receive email outside of the secure VHCS G Suite for Education domain.  You will not be able to email your student at his or her vhcsk12.com address, nor will they be able to email you.

 

 

Parents are encouraged to explore G Suite for Education with their children by logging in together.  You will be able to have your child log in to his or her VHCS G Suite for Education account at home and show you what they are currently working on in class, as well as items that have been "turned in" and commented on by the teacher.  The easiest way for you to monitor your child's account is to have them share their password with you.  Parents who have any concerns over their child's account my contact the school's Instructional Technology Specialist. 

 

 

Ads in G Suite for Education are turned off by default and G Suite for Education has no plans to change this in the future.  Since ads are turned off for G Suite for Education, the automated scanning that is done in normal Gmail accounts is NOT used to target ads to Education users, whether inside Gmail or in other G Suite for Education products.  G Suite for Education does not scan information stored in Google Drive to target ads to Apps for Education customers.

 

 

• Students should never share their passwords with other students
• Report any inappropriate use to a faculty member at your school
• Remember that using G Suite for Education outside of school is just like being in school.  Students are responsible for following all VHCS guidelines.