[Introduction customizable by school -- update highlighted sections and modify anything but bolded text]
Note: Google Workspace for Education Plus editions can also leverage eSignature to create a document using this template for signature and send signature requests in Google Docs and Google Drive to parents and guardians to facilitate this process.
To parents and guardians,
At [insert name of school/district], we use Google Workspace for Education, and we are seeking your permission to provide and manage a Google Workspace for Education account for your child. Google Workspace for Education is a set of education productivity tools from Google including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Classroom, and more used by tens of millions of students and teachers around the world. At [insert name of school/district], students will use their Google Workspace for Education accounts to complete assignments, communicate with their teachers, [if applicable, insert sign into their Chromebooks], and learn 21st century digital citizenship skills.
The notice below provides answers to common questions about what Google can and can’t do with your child’s personal information, including:
- What personal information does Google collect?
- How does Google use this information?
- Will Google disclose my child’s personal information?
- Does Google use student personal information for users in K-12 schools to target advertising?
- Can my child share information with others using the Google Workspace for Education account?
Please read it carefully, let us know of any questions, and then sign below to indicate that you’ve read the notice and give your consent. If you don’t provide your consent, we will not create a Google Workspace for Education account for your child. [Your school/district may wish to describe here how not providing consent to use Google services will impact the educational experience. For example, students who cannot use Google services may need to use other software to complete assignments or collaborate with peers.]
I give permission for [insert name of school/district] to create/maintain a Google Workspace for Education account for my child and for Google to collect, use, and disclose information about my child only for the purposes described in the notice below.
Thank you,
[Insert name of school administrator]
________________________________________________
Full name of student
________________________________________________
Printed name of parent/guardian
____________________________ _____________
Signature of parent/guardian Date
[Google Workspace for Education Notice to Parents and Guardians - Google recommends not editing this section except for replacing highlighted text with your school’s info]
Google Workspace for Education Notice to Parents and Guardians
This notice describes the personal information we provide to Google for these accounts and how Google collects, uses, and discloses personal information from students in connection with these accounts.
Using their Google Workspace for Education accounts, students may access and use the following “Core Services” offered by Google (described at https://workspace.google.com/terms/user_features.html):
- Assignments
- Calendar
- Classroom
- Cloud Search
- Drive and Docs
- Gmail
- Google Chat
- Google Chrome Sync
- Google Meet
- Google Vault
- Groups for Business
- Jamboard
- Keep
- Migrate
- Sites
- Tasks
[Include this section if your school provides access to Additional Services -- learn more about what Additional Services are, and how they differ from Core Services, in the Help Center at https://google-support.mirrorblogs.com/a/answer/6356441] In addition, we also allow students to access certain other Google services with their Google Workspace for Education accounts. Specifically, your child may have access to the following “Additional Services”:
- [Insert names of Additional Services enabled by the school administrator - e.g. YouTube and Google Maps. A list of additional services is available at https://google-support.mirrorblogs.com/a/answer/181865, and instructions for administrators about how to enable or disable them are available at https://google-support.mirrorblogs.com/a/answer/182442.]
[Include this section if your school provides access to third-party services with students’ Google Workspace for Education account] Further, we allow students to access additional third-party services with their Google Workspace for Education accounts. Our school administrator enables access to these third-party services with your student’s Google Workspace for Education account, and authorizes the disclosure of data, as requested by the third party services. Additional information about these third-party services is available at [include link to additional resources about permitted third party services.
[Note: If your school intends to add access to more Google Additional Services or third party services with a Google Workspace for Education account in the future, the school must notify parents and get consent for those applications as required.]
Google provides information about the information it collects, as well as how it uses and discloses the information it collects from Google Workspace for Education accounts in its Google Workspace for Education Privacy Notice. You can read that notice online at https://workspace.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html You should review this information in its entirety, but below are answers to some common questions:
What personal information does Google collect?
When creating a student account, [insert name of school/district] may provide Google with certain personal information about the student, including, for example, a name, email address, and password. Google may also collect personal information directly from students, such as telephone number for account recovery or a profile photo added to the Google Workspace for Education account.
When a student uses Google core services, Google also collects information based on the use of those services. This includes:
- account information, which includes things like name and email address.
- activity while using the core services, which includes things like viewing and interacting with content, people with whom your student communicates or shares content, and other details about their usage of the services.
- settings, apps, browsers & devices. Google collects information about your student’s settings and the apps, browsers, and devices they use to access Google services. This information includes browser and device type, settings configuration, unique identifiers, operating system, mobile network information, and application version number. Google also collects information about the interaction of your student’s apps, browsers, and devices with Google services, including IP address, crash reports, system activity, and the date and time of a request.
- location information. Google collects information about your student’s location as determined by various technologies such as IP address and GPS.
- direct communications. Google keeps records of communications when your student provides feedback, asks questions, or seeks technical support
[Include this section if your school provides access to Additional Services] The Additional Services we allow students to access with their Google Workspace for Education accounts may also collect the following information, as described in the Google Privacy Policy:
- activity while using additional services, which includes things like terms your student searches for, videos they watch, content and ads they view and interact with, voice and audio information when they use audio features, purchase activity, and activity on third-party sites and apps that use Google services.
- apps, browsers, and devices. Google collects the information about your student’s apps, browser, and devices described above in the core services section.
- location information. Google collects info about your student’s location as determined by various technologies including: GPS, IP address, sensor data from their device, and information about things near their device, such as Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, and Bluetooth-enabled devices. The types of location data we collect depend in part on your student’s device and account settings.
How does Google use this information?
In Google Workspace for Education Core Services, Google uses student personal information primarily to provide the core services that schools and students use, but it’s also used to maintain and improve the services; make recommendations to optimize the use of the services; provide and improve other services your student requests; provide support; protect Google’s users, customers, the public, and Google; and comply with legal obligations. See the Google Cloud Privacy Notice for more information.
[Include this section if your school provides access to Additional Services] In Google Additional Services, Google may uses the information collected from all Additional Services to deliver, maintain, and improve our services; develop new services; provide personalized services; measure performance; communicate with schools or users; and protect Google, Google’s users, and the public. See the Google Privacy Policy for more details.
Does Google use student personal information for users in K-12 schools to target advertising?
No. There are no ads shown in Google Workspace for Education core services. Also, none of the personal information collected in the core services is used for advertising purposes.
[Include this section if your school provides access to Additional Services] Some additional services show ads; however, for users in primary and secondary (K12) schools, the ads will not be personalized ads, which means Google does not use information from your student’s account or past activity to target ads. However, Google may show ads based on general factors like the student’s search queries, the time of day, or the content of a page they’re reading.
Can my child share information with others using the Google Workspace for Education account?
[As applicable for school/district] We may allow students to access Google services such as Google Docs and Sites, which include features where users can share information with others or publicly. For example, if your student shares a photo with a friend who then makes a copy of it, or shares it again, then that photo may continue to appear in the friend’s Google Account, even if your student removes it from their Google Account. When users share information publicly, it may become accessible through search engines, including Google Search.
Will Google disclose my child’s personal information?
Google will not share personal information with companies, organizations and individuals outside of Google except in the following cases:
With our school: Our school administrator (and resellers who manage your or your organization’s Workspace account) will have access to your student’s information. For example, they may be able to:
- View account information, activity and statistics;
- Change your student’s account password;
- Suspend or terminate your student’s account access;
- Access your student’s account information in order to satisfy applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request;
- Restrict your student’s ability to delete or edit their information or privacy settings.
With your consent: Google will share personal information outside of Google with parental consent.
For external processing: Google will share personal information with Google’s affiliates and other trusted third party providers to process it for us as Google instructs them and in compliance with our Google Privacy Policy, the Google Cloud Privacy Notice, and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
For legal reasons: Google will share personal information outside of Google if they have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary for legal reasons, including complying with enforceable governmental requests and protecting you and Google.
What choices do I have as a parent or guardian?
First, you can consent to the collection and use of your child’s information by Google. If you don’t provide your consent, we will not create a Google Workspace for Education account for your child, and Google will not collect or use your child’s information as described in this notice.
If you consent to your child’s use of Google Workspace for Education, you can access or request deletion of your child’s Google Workspace for Education account by contacting [insert contact information for school administrator]. If you wish to stop any further collection or use of your child's information, you can request that we use the service controls available to access personal information, limit your child’s access to features or services, or delete personal information in the services or your child’s account entirely. You and your child can also visit https://myaccount.google.com while signed in to the Google Workspace for Education account to view and manage the personal information and settings of the account.
What if I have more questions or would like to read further?
If you have questions about our use of Google’s Google Workspace for Education accounts or the choices available to you, please contact [insert contact information for the school administrator]. If you want to learn more about how Google collects, uses, and discloses personal information to provide services to us, please review the Google Workspace for Education Privacy Center (at https://google.com/edu/trust/), the Google Workspace for Education Privacy Notice(at https://workspace.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html), and the Google Privacy Policy at https://google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/), and the Google Cloud Privacy Notice at (https://cloud.google.com/terms/cloud-privacy-notice).
The Core Google Workspace for Education services are provided to us under Google Workspace for Education Agreement (at https://google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html) and the Cloud Data Processing Addendum (as https://cloud.google.com/terms/data-processing-addendum).
