Beginning this year, all high school students in MCPS will need parent or guardian consent to be able to use various services in Google’s G Suite for Education services, which include Blogger, Chrome Web Store, Google Earth, Google Takeout and approved videos on Youtube.

In order to comply with federal and state laws pertaining to student data privacy and security, MCPS must notify and receive consent from parents to be able to track their student’s activity on their school accounts, assistant principal Rainer Kulenkampff said.

With consent, students will be able to use all of the G Suite applications. Without consent, students will only be able to use these services in a very limited form. Parents or guardians can take away their consent at any time, but once consent is given, it lasts for a student’s entire high school tenure.

Some students are frustrated that use of services should be restricted without parental consent and believe the consent form is unnecessary.

“These are services we use for educational purposes and I think that it would harm our ability to learn without them,” sophomore Bonnie Caden said.

Other issues come from the fact that the day the form was passed out, Oct. 10, many students, especially seniors, weren’t at school because of the abbreviated schedule for PSAT testing day.

“I feel like they should have given it out on a day where more people were at school,” senior Katherine Luo said.

Students have until Oct. 16 to turn in their forms to their first period teacher. If you didn’t receive a form, a copy can be found on the Whitman website. The change goes into effect on Nov. 5.