Dear Parents,   I joined St. Catherine’s as the Director of Technology in June and I feel so very fortunate to be here. Now that the school year is off to a great start, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself and share some reminders about how to help your daughters safely navigate the digital world, both at school and at home. An important part of my role is to guide our students to use technology in a safe and responsible way and to be a resource for you as parents.   Cyber safety and digital footprint education starts in the Lower School and becomes an active conversation in Middle School and Upper School as we prepare them for the future. Cybersafety is an integral part of our technology curriculum, especially within our one-to-one laptop program in grades 7–12. We cannot do this important work without your support and we encourage you to discuss digital citizenship and social media with your daughters, including the risks and challenges of being online and participating in social media sites.   Helpful Tips and Reminders: St. Catherine’s adheres to restrictions set by social sites such as Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. that require users be 13 years of age or older. However, not all social media sites have such restrictions. To address those situations, the School requires that St. Catherine’s students must be in the eighth grade and at least 13 years old prior to participating in any social media sites. Social media is constantly changing and our students are quick to embrace new channels.  While many of our students are on Facebook, Google+ is becoming increasingly popular. We encourage you to have an open dialogue and be aware of any and all social media accounts that your child has set up. You should be able to monitor their activities on these sites.  Be aware of the capabilities of the sites that your students are interacting with so that you can understand potential risks. Many of these sites also offer safety tips and information on privacy settings that can be found with a simple search on the website. St. Catherine’s blocks numerous sites, including social media sites, for students on the School network and the number continues to increase as we discover new sites that are not appropriate for the educational environment.  Students may not engage in social media activities during the school day or on our campus, unless it is under the direct guidance of a teacher for educational purposes. Most at-home Internet providers allow you to set up filters at home. Consider investigating this functionality for your family. The tips above reinforce what is outlined in our acceptable technology use policy. This documentation was shared at the beginning of the school year and required parent and student signatures. The information is also included in the 2012-13 Student and Parent Handbooks. It is a good practice to periodically revisit this information with your daughter(s) as the school year progresses.    If you would like more information on cyber safety, please visit our cyber safety page on the school website at www.st.catherines.org/cybersafety. We will continue to update the webpages with relevant information. If you have any specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or a member of our Technology Team:  Lower School Technology Coordinator – Ann Hamilton-Dixon,ahdixon@st.catherines.org Middle School Technology Coordinator – Tonya Walker, twalker@st.catherines.org Upper School Technology Coordinator – Nick Kapetanis, nkapetanis@st.catherines.org Thank you for your time and for the warm welcome to St. Catherine’s!   Doran McBride Director of Technology dmcbride@st.catherines.org