Here at Gaggle, we believe that all schools should be safe and all students should get the mental and emotional help they need. Our mission is to help ensure the safety and well-being of students and schools by leveraging people and technology, supporting school districts in proactively identifying those who are struggling.
We take student safety very seriously. We work in partnership with schools and districts across the country, offering administrators, teachers, and parents the peace of mind that students are being protected—24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Gaggle analyzed more than 6.25 billion items during the 2019–20 school year. Of these, over 150,000 items warranted urgent action by the school or district. Almost 64,000 incidents we flagged were references to suicide or self-harm—each one of these is a cry for help.
Around-the-Clock Student Safety
Since 1999, Gaggle has strived to ensure the safety and well-being of the students we serve. Safeguarding these students is the golden rule to which everything else comes second. The pioneer in helping K-12 districts manage student safety on school-provided technology, we have helped hundreds of districts avoid tragedies and save lives.
Combining powerful technology with human safety experts, Gaggle provides real-time analysis and review of students’ use of school-issued online collaboration platforms. Our team of over 175 trained safety representatives review the alerts coming from our technology around the clock. The alerts are then further analyzed by a core group of 25 safety professionals who determine the urgency of the alerts and the proper course of action.
Serving over 4.5 million students across all 50 states, a member of our team of 25 core safety professionals will contact school officials when students show signs of self-harm, depression, thoughts of suicide, substance abuse, cyberbullying, unhealthy relationships, and credible threats of violence against others.
Addressing Privacy Concerns
Gaggle complies with HIPAA and FERPA guidelines and was one of the first companies to sign the Student Privacy Pledge. In addition, Gaggle maintains clear terms regarding how we treat student and staff data. Year after year, we’ve pledged to reinforce our commitment by aligning with the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) to advance data privacy protection regarding the collection, use, and maintenance of personal information.
It is Gaggle’s balance between student safety and student privacy that has K-12 districts across the United States using Gaggle year after year. Gaggle does not monitor students’ personal social media accounts or personal email accounts. Gaggle firmly believes in a student’s right to privacy and recommends that districts notify students and parents of their Gaggle implementation.
Supporting Vulnerable Populations
Disparities exist in regard to mental health support among BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. In fact, less than half of Black students feel they have adequate mental health support in their schools. In addition, LGBTQ+ youth are five times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. With this in mind, it’s important to consider the ways we can support these underserved students facing mental health struggles.
Equitable prevention practices are paramount to providing students with a fair education and the support they need. Our algorithm reviews content anonymously, so we have no context or background on students when we identify potential issues, ensuring that all students get the support they need—regardless of demographic factors like race, income level, and sexual orientation. During onboarding and training for our Safety team, we include topics related to bias and personal opinion as well as the importance of separating these from decision-making related to items they review.
Data Security
Data security is very important to us. As such, Gaggle never shares anonymized or aggregate student data with any third parties. Gaggle’s data is stored in AWS and our own dedicated data center. Files are stored in an encrypted format, all communication is over secure SSL, and all passwords are hashed. Data is retained for varying lengths of time depending upon the contract with the customer. When services are canceled, data is purged.
What’s more, Gaggle helps school districts comply with CIPA by providing security of school-provided technology to all students in the district where Gaggle is implemented. We also help protect school districts against risks and liability issues related to sexually explicit images by complying with requirements set by the National Center of Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC).
See what districts are saying about Gaggle:
Success Stories
Gaggle Partner Districts in the News
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