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Anchorage School District policy allows students to make use of Internet mail accounts during the school day on school equipment. This has been popular with Goldenview students. Most come to Goldenview with their own accounts and are familiar with how email works. However there have been abuses of staff and other students, some students have received mail at school that was inappropriate, and the presumed "privacy" of the accounts caused some students to use inappropriate language in their messages. Some schools have banned student access to email accounts entirely, and there has been concern about it's use at Goldenview. At the same time, more teachers are interested in using email as a way of communicating with students and it is an important part of using a computer.

The decision has been made that at Goldenview, starting with the 2000-2001 school year, students may only use email accounts issued by the school through the Gaggle.net Internet service while at school.

We want all students and parents to be aware that all email sent to and from Gaggle accounts is filtered (screened for language) and that all messages received by a Gaggle account can be reviewed by school personnel even after they have been deleted by the recipient.

The servers at Gaggle screen all messages for profanity, ethnic slurs, and other language that suggests there might be objectionable content in the message. Any message caught by this filter is directed to a special folder in the mail administrator's account (at Goldenview) for review. Messages will be read and unblocked if they are not objectionable. Objectionable messages will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Using Gaggle will allow us to make email a regular part of student life and education but help protect students from some of the problems of commercial web-based email accounts, such as:

Spam - Gaggle accounts are protected from unwanted mass mailings.

Unwanted advertisements - Gaggle accounts as leased by Goldenview do not have any advertising.

Anonymous mailings - Goldenview users are not allowed to register under an "alias" or made up name. Communications between students are done with the knowledge of who is saying what to who.

Parents and students should understand that no filtering system is perfect - but so far, Gaggle has done a good job.

It is not our desire or intent to monitor all messages that students send. But students need to understand that email accounts given by an organization for a purpose are NOT private, in the same way that teacher accounts with ASD accounts are not private or business accounts that come with a job are not private. They belong to the issuing agency. This is part of our effort to prepare students for professional life. Work behavior is not the same as personal behavior - the two need to be kept separate.

Gaggle accounts are like other web-based email accounts. They can send and receive mail from ANY Internet mail account and they can be accessed from any machine with an Internet connection. Students are welcome to use their accounts for non-school activities, including email to friends and family. But they should remember that ALL MESSAGES ARE FILTERED. Language and content that is inappropriate for school should not be used on these accounts at any time.

Proper use of email is governed by the Anchorage School District Internet and Electronic Mail Student Agreement. This is an agreement that every student and their parents have signed before having a Gaggle account issued to them.

Anyone wanting more information about the service is welcome to visit http://www.gaggle.net.

Other features about Gaggle include a file storage area of 25 megabytes (this is a great way to move your work between school and home), message boards, and chat areas.

Anyone with questions about the email policies at Goldenview is welcome to contact Mr. Holleman (Computer Skills teacher) by email or at 742-8230 or Mrs. Maker (Principal) by email or at 742-8200.

If you have been given a user key to open an account, please read all of the above, and then click here.