PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — Parents and guardians of kids in Calvert County Public Schools can already sign up for an optional app, Qustodio, that displays a student’s activity on their personal devices. The district has plans to expand this program so parents can also see what students access during school hours.
Members of the district’s IT department emphasized that this is an instructional tool, not a surveillance tool, and that it helps teachers keep students on track and helps parents guide their kids into better digital decisions. They say it is meant to encourage collaboration among parents, teachers and students.
Currently, there are 705 families signed up for Qustodio. But more signups and more consistent use are needed to roll out additional functions on the app, and they anticipate that those features could be available either in the spring or next September.
Board member Melissa Goshorn said that she was concerned about parents putting too much blame on teachers for not monitoring the students closely enough during school using this app. Instead, she said teachers can’t possibly keep all students on track and it’s a parent’s responsibility to know what their child is doing and hold them accountable.
“It’s a real opportunity for us to create a partnership through this tool,” Goshorn said.
Student Member of the Board Allison Jones raised the concern that the app made it challenging for her and fellow students to do school-related research on certain topics — she mentioned anything concerning war or violence in history class, for example, or educational content for health classes. She said most of those searches were blocked, making it difficult to complete the work in a timely manner.
More information is expected about Qustodio and its offerings at later meetings.
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