Technology is an integral part of students’ lives today and there are many ways that students can provide support and leadership in its use, support, and deployment. Many school districts have student involvement without jeopardizing policy and security. They have coherent and thought-out policies about student access to network controls and administrative tools with a clear and communicated boundary that no students ever cross.

In planning a student technology leadership program, school districts must determine how they will keep sensitive information and data secure and confidential. In order to guarantee that there is an absolute separation between student access and sensitive data, districts need to have a strategy to logically or physically separate the systems that contain data that is appropriate for student access from the systems containing data that isn't.

Due to liability issues, a district should review student technology leadership plans with legal council. These three rules are a place to start in determining your security plan.

1. Students should never have direct or indirect access to any files containing any other student's personal records including grades, health, family information, discipline, etc.
   
   
2. Students should never have direct or indirect access to any files containing business, HR, professional, criminal background checks, or personal data about any adult (teachers, administrators, aids, volunteers, parents, etc.).
   
   
3. Districts need to determine how much access student techs have to the email system (teacher's emails often contain sensitive information) and to the file storage system (where teachers and administrators may store memos or letters or spreadsheets or other material that is likely to contain sensitive data).
   
   

By setting clear ethical and physical boundaries for student involvement and modeling appropriate behavior, the school district provides students with valuable lessons in citizenship and ethics as well as learning opportunities.

1. Use levels of access, usernames, and passwords with clearly defined roles and responsibilities backed up by student activity logs. As students become proficient and earn the trust of the adult supervisor, they earn more privileged levels of access. However, there is a clear and communicated line that students are never allowed to cross in terms of network access or administrative authority.
   
   
2. Engage students in appropriate activities and solicit their input. Students who take ownership of the network and instructional technology resources take pride in the smooth operation and performance of the network and discourage others from misusing resources.
   
   
3. An essential component of any student technology support program is training in legal issues and ethics. Violating security and privacy laws is a crime, and students need to understand that they risk prosecution for criminal behavior.
   
   
4. Model ethical behavior. It is the responsibility of teachers and faculty advisors to be aware of software licensing agreements and to respect copyrights.