Rhea County School District in Tennessee was looking for a way to solve a very modern problem: protecting students in the digital world by monitoring behavior in G Suite programs. At a 2018 industry conference, Technology Director Dallas Hicks found the right solution to support the district’s endeavor after being introduced to Gaggle. But having the solution in place is only the first step—stakeholders need to know what the technology does and the backstory to ensure they understand why it’s so important. In order to achieve this, the district turned to Gaggle’s one-day training program f ..read more

Colorado’s Weld County School District needed a way to monitor students’ online activity in a 1:1 environment. While the district was already using an email filtering program, the results were mainly time-consuming false reports. “We had this incredible blind spot; we couldn’t see what was in our students’ Google Drive folders or what they were doing on email and with other Google apps,” said Dr. Teresa M. Hernandez, Chief Intervention & Safety Officer.  After receiving their Healthy Kids Colorado survey data for the 2017–18 school year, it became clear that the district needed a platf ..read more

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among today’s youth between the ages of 10 and 24. Last year alone, Gaggle found 52,000 references to suicide or self-harm in students’ online activity. Of these, more than 6,000 were serious enough to merit immediate attention by the district. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, suicidal ideation is common, but should not be considered normal.  Adolescent mental health crises are on the rise, and suicidal thoughts certainly warrant professional attention.  It can be challenging for educators and parents to know where to find he ..read more

Gaggle is more than simply a school safety company or an AI algorithm that works to monitor students’ digital footprint. It’s an organization of professionals across the country who are devoted to empowering educators, protecting students, and saving lives. At the core of our student safety mission is the Gaggle Customer Service Team, the beating heart of which is Vanessa Beavers. Although many of our educators already know her, here’s a quick Q&A to introduce Gaggle’s superb Customer Service Supervisor. Start Date: 9/14/2011 Random info about me: I grew up in a southside suburb ..read more

Student drug use is a prevailing challenge for school districts across the country. Although federally illegal, underage students are frequently using substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana on and off school campus. According to the Center for Disease Control, teen substance use has been linked to delayed growth and brain development, increased risk behaviors such as unprotected sex and dangerous driving, and the development of adult health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and sleep disorders. While recognizing this growing risk, school administrators are at a ..read more

A Safety Audit, performed by Gaggle is a retrospective analysis of student-created content and review of possible incidents Gaggle’s services would have caught, had you been a subscriber at the time. In the past year, Gaggle has completed 80 Safety Audits and found 183,700 actionable items that would have led to an immediate response by Gaggle.  If you’re looking to improve student safety in your school or district, conducting a Safety Audit can be a great way to see the potential impact before partnering with Gaggle.  Here are three reasons you should consider requesting a Safety Audit ..read more

A Safety Audit, performed by Gaggle and exclusive to your school or district, provides a retrospective analysis of content and review of possible incidents Gaggle’s services would have caught, had you been a subscriber at the time. Through this comprehensive report of past content, your school and district administrators are able to see exactly what kinds of potentially harmful content your students are sharing across your online collaboration platforms, such as Google’s G Suite for Education, Microsoft Office 365, and Canvas. In order to initiate a Safety Audit, a school must first comp ..read more

Digital citizenship is an area of focus for most schools across the country. The goal is to help bring a foundational knowledge and skill set to children so that they can effectively and responsibly use and interact with digital media and the internet. It also addresses the role of children being content creators who are active participants in these online community spaces.  Each one of us leave a digital footprint in the realm of the internet. Each post that is made public, picture that is added, or tweet that is sent builds an overall profile of a person. Just like children need instruct ..read more

Name: Jacob Huss Title: Account Manager Originally from Columbia, South Carolina, Jacob Huss has been part of the Gaggle family for the past year and a half. As an Account Manager, Jacob helps some of our larger districts transition to Gaggle’s services, acting as an advocate for the districts across all three Gaggle teams: Operations, Sales, and Development. He is also involved in professional development for all districts that require training. We asked Jacob five questions to get to know a little more about him and his time with Gaggle. Here’s what he had to say:  What are thr ..read more

When Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) started handing out laptops on a 1:1 basis, the district knew the importance of protecting its students in the digital world. Having used Gaggle’s platform for years to monitor online activity, CPS found their student safety investment became even more valuable as they expanded students’ access to technology. “Technology usage in our classrooms has just exploded over the last five years,” said Sarah Trimble-Oliver, CIO. “We’ve made a very concerted effort to ensure that students learn good digital citizenship and how to act responsibly online.” Along wi ..read more