Student Safety First: Best Practices for Using Online Collaboration Tools in CTE Programs, Including the PA CTE Community Network

As more schools and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs embrace tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and other digital collaboration platforms, the benefits are clear: faster communication, stronger networking, and easier teamwork.

But there’s a flip side. These same platforms can pose serious privacy, legal, and operational risks if not used thoughtfully. 

To ensure these tools work for you and not against you, here are three must-follow safety practices:

Protecting Student Privacy and Complying with FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) mandates that schools protect personally identifiable information (PII) about students. Before allowing any student-related content on a platform, educators and administrators must ensure:

• Who owns the account — the school, the district, or an individual teacher? Ownership impacts policies, oversight, and liability.

• Many smaller schools lack a dedicated IT or safety compliance officer, meaning these duties might fall to teachers without formal training.

• Whenever possible, secure a school-wide or district-level license to ensure consistent use and data protection.

Building Safety into Onboarding & Training

One of the first questions schools should ask is: Is this an approved platform for student-related communication?

• Determine who owns the platform account (school, district, or an individual teacher). Ownership will influence policies, oversight, and liability.

• Many small schools do not have a dedicated safety or IT compliance officer, meaning these responsibilities may fall to educators without formal training in data protection.

• A school-wide or district-level licensing agreement is recommended to standardize usage and safeguard data.

Onboarding and Ongoing Education

Safety isn’t just about having rules—it’s about building awareness from day one.

• Create an onboarding process that includes privacy basics, platform rules, and acceptable-use guidelines.
  Add a “read and acknowledge” checkbox before users can upload content, confirming they understand the safety requirements.

Bottom line: Digital collaboration tools can be a game-changer for schools and CTE programs—but only when safety comes first. By locking down privacy, securing approvals, and training users, we can protect students while keeping collaboration flowing.