Laura Badillo

Executive Director
Santa Rosa Academy
27587 La Piedra Rd.
Menifee, CA 92584

Dear Mrs. Laura Badillo,

I am writing you to discuss our current educational technology plan that we have in place at our
school along with our Acceptable Use Policy. Technology is such a huge part of teaching and
learning in todays schools and can be a very powerful tool if used properly (Office of
Educational Technology, 2017). As I’m sure you are aware, our plan was created in 2014 and
was meant to last for three years ending in 2017. It is very important that our technology plan
stays current. Since the plan was created, there are many things that have changed or are now out
of date.

Since the plan was created in 2014, we have acquired more students as well as more technology.
An update to the plan incorporating these new technologies will be beneficial to our teachers and
our students. For example, when the plan was created, each grade level had an iPad cart that they
shared. Now each class has their own iPad cart as well as Chrome Books. New assessment tools
have also been discovered since the technology plan was created such as ESGI and Illuminate.
These assessments should be added to plan as well. According to the California Department of
Education, the technology plan should include how professional development will support with
using technology in their classrooms (2018). When the plan was created, professional
development goals were created. Since then, a lot of these goals have been met and could use
some updating. Being a charter school, we completed WASC requirements in 2017 where we
came up with some new technology goals that should be added into our technology plan. These
are just a few of the items that need to be reviewed and updated in our new technology plan.

Our school currently has two Acceptable Use Policies (AUP). One is a Student Network/Internet
User Agreement. This policy covers general network use, the internet, email access, and
publishing to the world wide web. It goes over what students must do and what students may not
do. The policy is meant for parents to go over with their child and then the child and parent will
sign it. The other AUP our school has is for our 1:1 Laptops to Learn Program. This policy is for
our students in 6-12 grade who get to bring home laptops. The policy addresses what students
should and should not do with the laptop. It also says that there will be a consequence for not
following the rules, however it does not specify what the consequence is. Students are required
to sign this document in order to bring home a laptop.

Updating our Acceptable Use Policies may prove to be beneficial. An AUP should list expected
behavior as well as consequences for not following the expected behavior. This way students
know what will happen if they break a rule and the document can be enforced. Another change
that can be made to our policies is combining the two documents and changing the verbiage to
accessing all school networks and devices. This way the one document would apply to school
laptops as well. The goal of an AUP is to protect students from harmful content on the internet
and to provide them to digital media to enrich learning (Bosco, 2013). If students understood that
we want them to use technology to enrich their learning, but certain rules must be followed, they
might be more willing to follow the rules.

That brings me to a Responsible Use Policy. I believe our school should look into creating a
Responsible Use Policy (RUP) that is used for all students and staff. A RUP is something that
will be very beneficial to have because it will teach students and staff that they are responsible
for their own behavior. Instead of teaching students and staff what not to do on the internet it
teaches them what they should do (Bosco, 2013). Using a RUP will mean our teachers need to be
more involved in teaching digital citizenship and internet safety to our students. This is
something that sites such as Edutopia and Common Sense Media have free curriculum that can
be used for all grade levels (Bosco, 2013). If we start teaching these things from the very
beginning in kindergarten, then students will know how to be safe on the internet.

This is something that I would really appreciate if you can take the time to look into. Updating
our technology plan as well as our AUP and possibly creating a RUP will prove to be beneficial
for our students and staff. We will be able to create good digital citizens out of our students with
these new updates. I appreciate the time you took to read this letter and really hope the above
suggestions are taken into consideration.

Sincerely,

Brittney A. Roddy
Kindergarten Teacher