The Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union released a report last week raising what it considered to be red flags about privacy regarding school-issued devices for students.

The report, entitled “High School Non-Confidential: How School-Loaned Computers May Be Peering Into Your Home,” examined “so-called 1 to 1 programs, in which a majority of school districts in the state participate, a private vendor provides free laptops or tablet computers for the school year that students can use at home.” It states that it found 11 school districts participating in 1 to 1 have policies that give students and families no expectation of privacy on school-issued devices.

“In many districts, policies allow school officials to remotely access the student laptops at home, including the computer’s webcam and microphone – at any time, and for any reason,” states a press release describing the report.

The ACLU report argues that the fact the devices in question are provided to students by schools is not enough justification for districts reserving the right to monitor them.

“If a school district provided students free backpacks to use to carry their books and paraphernalia back and forth to school, would anybody seriously argue that gave school officials the right to check the bags’ content while it was in the child’s home, or even to search it, without any cause, in school?” the report hypothesizes.

ACLU of RI policy associate Marcela Betancur said in a statement that she was “shocked to see [school districts’] complete lack of respect for student and parents privacy rights.”

“In order to protect those rights, this report makes clear that the state needs to adopt uniform standards for school districts who participate in 1 to 1 programs,” she said.

Warwick is one of the 11 districts the report found to have a “no expectation of privacy” rule. Superintendent Philip Thornton’s office provided copies of its policies to the Beacon, which are also available on the district website.

Warwick’s Responsible Use of Technology Policy states that the District “retains control, custody and supervision of all technology, networks and Internet services owned or financed by the District.” It also reserves Warwick Public Schools the rights to monitor all technology and Internet activity by users as well as “users’ online activities and to access, review, copy, and store or delete any electronic communication or files and disclose them to parents, guardians, teachers, administrators or law enforcement authorities as it deems necessary.” It also says users “have no expectations of privacy in their use of school technology, including email and stored files” and should not have expectation of privacy “regarding their use of District property, to include network and/or Internet access or files, along with email.”

However, the policy also states, “the District will not make use of the camera or microphone on a school-issued device for remote monitoring purposes.” Warwick is only one of six districts the ACLU report said that did not give itself the right to access camera or microphone functions.

In addition, Warwick has a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, which only gives the school the right to inspect a student’s personal, not school-issued device “if there is reason to believe that the student has violated WPS policies, administrative procedures, school rules or has engaged in other misconduct while using their personal device.”

The ACLU report concludes by offering policy recommendations, including “restricting remote access to the content of the devices, banning remote activation of the computer’s webcam or microphones, implementing standards for searches that are based on reasonable suspicion of misconduct, and providing low- or no-cost insurance coverage for needy families.”

On Tuesday, a representative from the Rhode Island Department of Education told the Beacon “RIDE is aware of the ACLU report and is currently working on sample policy language that will provide guidance to districts and ensure privacy protection for all students.”

The full ACLU report can be viewed at riaclu.org/images/uploads/ACLU_1-1_School_Privacy_Report_Final.pdf. Read more about Warwick’s technology guidelines and policies at warwickschools.org/depts/istech.html.