Kids Mobile Phones

[mikes]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but recently I have been asked to get pictures off of students mobile phones (with their consent - they were photos the students had taken of nasty messages students had been posting on facebook) This wasn't a problem but it got me thinking about the legal side and other things.

 

In my old school (I was there in 1997 - 2002) - any nasty pictures or texts were the students own fault - the school didn't get involved and the result was usually an ass whooping, but things are very different now.

 

recently, kids have taken photos of teachers in class, and I have been asked to delete the pictures off of the students mobile phones.

I was wondering about the legal right for me to do this - do I even have any legal right to plug in the USB device and delete said picture?

Could a student tell me to spin on it and I guess get a suspension?

 

I was asked to make sure the picture was removed from the phone - I deleted the picture from the SD card and did a search to locate any other copies, but I have tried explaining that I cannot prove 100% that the photo is gone - if she had a 4g contract for example, she could have uploaded it anywhere and I'd have no way to trace it. She could also take the SD card out at home and run data recovery - in order to stop that, I'd have to take her SD card and random wipe it, destroying all data on it, which I wouldn't really be willing to do.

 

As you can probably gather I'm not that familiar with modern smartphones (hard to buy one on an IT tech salary) so I was just wondering what other people do in these situations and what advice they give staff? Students aren't allowed to play with their phones during lesson but of course it's impossible to stop unless you spent 20 minutes per lesson taking them and giving them back at the end...

[crc-ict]

Very grey area to be honest. Really what you can do is dictated by school policies that students and parents have signed / agreed to.

 

I would always cover myself with this sort of thing by only getting involved with written authorisation from senior management.

[elsiegee40]

@GrumbleDook is the one who can quote chapter and verse on this.

 

I agree that you should make sure there is an audit trail to protect both yourself and the school. Get the request in writing - invent a form if necessary - for access to private devices and also to private storage on the server and make sure it is signed by a member of SLT and/or the person whose device/storage is to be accessed.

 

This is a Safeguarding problem among other things, so make sure you are familiar with your school's policy and procedures and don't be afraid to query a request with SLT if it doesn't seem to be in line with them

[GrumbleDook]

This should be part of your school's safeguarding policies and procedures, and you should be given advice and guidance (including detailed instructions and support).

 

If your school is not doing this then they need to speak to their LA for model guidance or speak to the team at the UK Safer Internet Centre.

 

They have the most up to date info and will help you to protect your students/pupils, protect your school ... and protect you.

 

Remember, if you are worried about seeing inappropriate or even illegal images you need to protect yourself, from mental harm if nothing else.

[esafety_officer]

Your school should have a policy regarding this to protect both staff and students. It should be widely publicised and staff should receive appropriate training and guidance, especially if they are expected to carry out an authorised search.

 

The following link from the DfE may help https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation

 

The SWGfL have a policy template regarding searching and deletion: Policy Templates - Online Safety Services which is really useful in explaining what is required.

 

Authorised staff do have the ability to search pupils and seize items which are "banned under the school rules" but need to be cautious they don't breach other legislation. A potential serious issue which could occur could be a member of staff searching a pupils phone as they believe it to have a bullying photos on it and then finding indecent images or extreme content. Currently there is no case law on this issue (as far as I know) so I would suggest your school's leadership team are clear about what is and isn't acceptable for staff and students to do, what "banned items" are, who is able to seize, search and delete and how this is documented.

[pete]

School leadership can request you to do this, but you can refuse if you're uncomfortable doing so - there was a discussion on here about the lack of an audit trail and how open to interpretation the legislation was in the monitoring thread: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/behind-red-door/156922-monitoring-uk-schools-17.html

 

On pages 8 and 15 of the document referenced by @esafety_officer is the relevant bits (who can search and electronic devices respectively).

 

Staff, other than security staff, can refuse to undertake a search. The law states that

headteachers may not require anyone other than a member of the school security

staff to undertake a search.

[mikes]

Thanks for your info everyone. I spoke to my manager who has forwarded me a copy of our Esafety policy (it seems to be a South Wales/SWGfl collaboration) - It's a hefty document, I am going to read through it tomorrow, as well as some of the other links like the blog posted above.

 

I am just an ICT technician so normally our Network Manager dealt with this kind of thing, but he has left and they are not replacing him, so it is falling on me now to learn this stuff. (with no increase in pay... but I don't want to rock the boat incase they outsource entirely)

 

I could tell the girl felt a bit creeped out by me going through her phone (I plugged it in via USB and set the explorer view to list mode - she gave me the dates the pictures were taken on and I copied them that way - but she was doing this as a favour for the school to provide evidence against ebullying - if any serious allegations occur I would have to do a proper examination, which is why I wanted this advice; and I have gotten some good information here, so again thanks everyone

 

I hope I'm not overstaying my welcome on this post, but what is the preferred method for getting data off of student phones? I used the USB lead and browsed to the DCIM folder, but I know that Apple are pushing for global encryption, and if a student refuses to give the passkey there will be no way I will be able to get any data off the device (even the US FBI are kicking up a fuss over it). I have told staff this but I don't think they fully appreciate what I am trying to say.

[catshilllearning]

Re "I have been asked to delete the pictures off of the students mobile phones."

Definitely do not do this. A more appropriate approach would be to ask the pupil to remove the image of the member whilst being watched by a member of the SLT. If the situation escalates (eg they refuse to do this) then a call to the parent is needed. Your Local Safeguarding Board contact can assist here if necessary.

[ben_mayo]

I hope I'm not overstaying my welcome on this post, but what is the preferred method for getting data off of student phones? I used the USB lead and browsed to the DCIM folder, but I know that Apple are pushing for global encryption

 

As long as the iPhone is unlocked before you plug it in then you should be fine with just a USB and the DCIM folder. You'll know whether or not it is unlocked (obviously by looking at it) but also the DCIM folder will be completely empty. Once its been unlocked with the passkey the DCIM folder will populate with all the images, videos etc that are stored on the phone.

 

To answer the question though, if it is to do with pictures of staff or others in school its better to protect yourself by getting them to delete it (may want to make sure that they are deleting it though as even though they press delete the picture will move into a deleted folder (or is at least the case on apple products) which can then be restored. You have to delete it and delete it from the delete folder (if that makes sense).

 

If the student is co-operating in terms of bullying which I believe comes under safe guarding and they give you permission then I think legally you are fine to COPY the picture as evidence against the pupils. I would never delete or remove the picture from their device though, just use a copy of it as they have given you consent.

[LukeC]

I would say always have another member of staff present as well.