Parsippany Distance Learning Leaves Children Vulnerable: Parents

PARSIPPANY, NJ - A change to the chat setting in the G-Suite program being used by the Parsippany-Troy Hills Schools district, made without notifying parents, has left elementary children vulnerable to inappropriate content and conversation, according to a local family.

Kimberly Frank and her husband told Patch that their nine-year-old daughter was contacted via the school distance learning program by high school boys and that when they went to the district their concerns were not taken seriously.

Patch made numerous attempts to reach district officials and eventually filed an Open Public Records Act request to try to get an answer. Other than saying the request won't be filled until June 17, the day before the end of school, there has been no response.

It began when Franks's daughter mentioned chatting with her new friend about video games. But her new friend wasn't one of her classmates at Mt. Tabor Elementary School; he was in high school chatting with her through their distance learning program.

"The school system has given direct, unsupervised access to our children essentially to teenage strangers through these tools. God forbid something happen to one of these students as a result of this negligence, "Frank said, noting that anyone in that household could access district children through it.

Frank told Patch about her pleas to school officials that so far have fallen on deaf ears.

After speaking with her daughter's teacher and principal, Frank was told that the decision was made to allow communication with students beyond the child's classroom – including students at the other schools in the district in order to allow kids to socialize while they are unable to attend school.

But no one was told of the change, Frank said.

"I received no communication that this change was made and was unaware that our daughter was able to communicate with older children and vice-versa," she said.

She also pointed out that the system won't allow her to contact her child through her school account, but that teenage boys, and anyone in that home with access to a shared device, can contact her freely.

But that wasn't the end of Frank's concerns. The Google accounts given to the students came with very few restrictions, Frank said.

"My daughter was able to view inappropriate content on YouTube, and even uploaded a video of herself at the suggestion of another student," Frank said, noting that her child's teacher said that they were not the first parents to have encountered issues with this in the class.

Frank reached out to Superintendent Barbara Sargent two weeks ago via email who responded via email that she was going to loop in the Mt. Tabor principal and the district's director of technology. Neither responded to Frank, but Sargent did offer a reason for the change.

Explanation Of Change

In her response, which Patch has a copy of, Sargent said that up until the extended closure, the "chat" feature for elementary school students was not activated. The school principals explained that the teachers would use their school e-mail for "chat" so that students could have online discussions in a classroom setting in school.

"When we moved to distance learning, several teachers inquired about opening the 'chat' feature for elementary students, so they could work on projects together and connect with friends," Sargent said in the email shared with Patch. "This was borne from a desire to support our children's social and emotional well-being during a time of significant isolation."

Frank acknowledged that since moving to remote learning, the students have been relying more and more on the technology given to them by the school — both to learn and to socialize.

"We presumed that children's use of the technology would be supervised by parents — or at least used in sight of parents — since many people are working from home," Sargent said in the email.

Sargent's response offered assurances that a review of what would be best for the summer and for the next school year would be undertaken as well as asking for the names of the boys who contacted the girl and an offer block specific YouTube links.

"I do apologize for the distress this has caused your family. Please be assured we will review students' use of Chromebooks and Google as we prepare for the next school year," Sargent said.

'Missing The Point'

Frank said that she and her husband felt Sargent was missing the point of the entire exchange.

"My husband and I are more than willing to supervise our children and their online activities, but we were not made aware that the technology had been changed," she said. "We had been told earlier in the year that students only had access to their own classes, and as such we were comfortable with our daughter using your network to interact with other 9 and 10-year-olds with minimal intrusion from us."

Frank said that monitoring students on the school network is not as simple a task as Sargent made it out to be as parents have no technological way to monitor their children.

"The only one way to know what they are doing is literally sitting right next to them and watching their screens. This is not practical by any parenting standard - but is particularly not practical now," Frank said. "My husband and I are both still employed for the moment and trying to work our full-time jobs while simultaneously being the primary childcare providers for our children. More than childcare, we’ve also been tasked with being their teachers, which is pretty much a full-time job by itself, especially for our son, who is only in kindergarten."

Frank said she reached out and spoke with neighbors who also have children at the school and all were unaware of the change and incredibly disturbed that there was no communication from the school. Frank said that both she and her husband recognize that the district goal in trying to help students overcome the isolation they might be feeling during the shutdown, but giving every student access to every other student is a significant change that should have been communicated.

"Parents cannot even email our own children on your network, but every 18-year-old student at your high school can see every elementary and middle school students’ names, grade, and in most cases, their pictures. Other people, including adults, in the household can access this information very easily – especially if they are sharing devices," she said in an email to Sargent. "You have essentially put all these students at a level of risk that requires a much deeper level of supervision without ever informing the parents. That is the problem we are asking you to address."

For her part, Frank said that the district needs to inform parents immediately that this change was made and that continuing to withhold this information, knowing that it puts children in danger, would be negligent.

"There may be hundreds of elementary parents across the district that are under the impression that their children can only communicate with their own classes, and that is now clearly not the case," she said.

No Response From District

Since that first email communication email two weeks ago, Frank's call for an answer and for parent notification has been summarily ignored. Both by Sargent and Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education President Frank Neglia.

Patch also reached out to Sargent and Neglia over the past two weeks on multiple occasions as well as Vice President Alison Cogan and Board of Education members Timothy Berrios, Andrew Choffo, Matthew DeVitto, Susy Golderer, Judy Mayer, Deborah Orme and Kendra Von Achen.

Patch also reached out to the general Board of Education address looking for an answer to a variation of these three questions:

• Why was the chat policy changed?
• Why weren't the parents informed?
• What corrective actions would the district be taking to fix the vulnerability in the system?

There was no response to any of those emails, nor was there a response to Frank, who the school board is elected to represent.

Patch filed an Open Public Records Act request for emails on this topic, since no answers were forthcoming, and has been told those emails will not be received until June 17. That would be after the next two school board meetings and the day before the last day of school.

'Victim Shaming'

For Frank and her husband, what may be more distressing than being ignored for weeks was that in the limited response they did receive, members of the district placing the blame on parents for a lack of supervision.

"This is a form of 'victim shaming' that is not acceptable from any school employee, whether teacher or superintendent," she said.

Frank and her husband maintain they were supervising their daughter based on the information they had, not the information being withheld from them. Frank also said supervising children might be an incredibly difficult task for some parents at this point.

"You’re completely disregarding how people’s lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Some parents might be essential workers, doctors and nurses, who can’t even come to their own houses and see their own children. Parents are working extra hours, taking care of adult parents, managing single-parent homes, unsure of technology – everyone is having their own unique struggles," she said in her response to Sargent. "You should not assume that every household in Parsippany matches your idealistic presumption - as if nothing has happened. Please be more sensitive to the situation and do not blame us or the students for your lack of transparency regarding district decisions."

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