Screen Smart

Looking for a way to stay up-to-date with technology and keep your students safer online? Catoosa County Public Schools and the Georgia Department of Education are excited to provide you with resources to help protect your family online with Parent ProTech's on-demand platform at no charge!

Sign up here: https://app.parentprotech.com/932/catoosa-county/en/signup?source=admin

Your Parent ProTech access includes:

• A library of videos and guides to help parents make confident, informed choices about technology
• A complete K-12 digital citizenship curriculum for classroom use, meeting SB 351 requirements
• Tools that help families and educators make smart tech decisions to keep kids safe online

Want to Learn More?
Watch this short video introduction to find out more about Parent ProTech.

According to a recent review by Common Sense Media, the AI Chatbot Grok is not safe for children and teens. Grok is built into the social media platform X, which was formerly known as Twitter. According to Common Sense Media, Grok scored an unsafe rating for, "inadequate identification of users under 18, weak safety guardrails, and frequent generation of sexual, violent, and inappropriate material." You can find the full article about the dangers of Grok online at

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/press-releases/grok-ai-chatbot-not-safe-for-teens-common-sense-media-report-finds

February 10, 2026: Reading Smarter: Strategies for Focus and Retention
On Feb. 10, 2026, at 7 pm, Varsity Tutors and the Georgia Department of Education will present "Reading Smarter," a webinar on helping your student improve reading. Reading efficiently and actually retaining what you read is a skill students can learn. Even strong readers can struggle when texts become more complex or time feels limited. This webinar introduces practical, high-impact reading strategies students can use across subjects to improve focus, comprehension, and retention without slowing down. You can view a recording of this free webinar at https://www.varsitytutors.com/schools/resources/reading-smarter-strategies

Parents, now might be a great time to discuss contracts with your student. Professional athletes sign contracts. Singers and songwriters sign contracts. Even teachers sign contracts. Parent ProTech has created a Smartphone Contract to help parents define boundaries when managing a cell phone with their student. Cell phones can be convenient for knowing when to pick up your teen from ball or band practice, but they sometimes create new issues with seemingly endless opportunities for communicating with friends and strangers. The Smartphone Contract can be a great place to begin discussing rules and limitations around your student's cell phone use. You can find the smartphone contract by searching "Smartphone Contract" on the Parent ProTech homepage. Don't have a Parent ProTech account? You can sign up here: https://app.parentprotech.com/932/catoosa-county/en/signup?source=admin

Parents, in the online world, the classic saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" has never been more important. Identity thieves are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using tempting offers like free items, promises of remote jobs, or even cryptocurrency to trick people—including students—into giving up private information.

Here are the essential security tips to discuss with your K-12 student today:

1. Protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Online thieves are looking for details that can be used to steal your child's identity. A good rule of thumb: If it's something you wouldn't shout in the school hallway, don't share it online with strangers.

Your child should never share:

• Their full name.

• Their home address.

• Their birthdate.

• Their phone number.

• Any online logins or passwords.

Even if your child is tech-savvy, the temptation to overshare or respond to a seemingly harmless request can be strong. Remind them that strangers online are not friends.

2. Guard Their School Account Like a Key

Your student's school Google Account username and password are the keys to their entire digital school life. They must be kept completely private.

The rule is simple: DO NOT SHARE.

• Not with a friend.

• Not with another student.

• And especially not with anyone online.

When login information is shared, it allows a stranger to:

• Impersonate your child.

• Target other students.

• Trick others into sharing sensitive information about themselves or their families (like addresses or financial details).

This is a dangerous and escalating trend. By securing your child's online accounts, you are protecting them and the entire school community.

Action Item: Take five minutes today to talk with your child about these dangers and reinforce the importance of keeping their personal and account information private.

Is your child facing digital drama? Group chats, online games and social media can create drama fast. Learn how to talk with your child about using kindness online and handling digital drama at Parent ProTech. You can sign up for a free account with the link below.

As students head into the summer months, many are looking forward to long days of fun in the sunshine. As parents and care givers, we often take a few moments to help our children apply sunscreen to protect them from sunburn.

Some students also use the long days of summer to spend more time online, gaming, chatting with friends, and watching videos. If your child plans to spend time online, please take a few moments to apply "digital" sunscreen to protect them. As you talk with your child about online safety, we wanted to alert you to a couple of new dangerous trends making the news. Please see the articles below for more information.

While the dangers online are real, you can take some simple steps to help your child stay safe.

• Regularly talk with your child about what they are doing online and who they are interacting with while playing.
• Set privacy features and monitor their online activity.
• Remind your child to never share personally identifiable information, like an address, age, or full name.
• You can find more information about strategies to protect your child online at https://consumer.ftc.gov/identity-theft-and-online-security/protecting-kids-online

We hope you and your children have a great summer, both online and offline!

Companies have been investing in chatbots that interact with online users over the past few years. When shopping online or looking up travel information, you may have encountered a chatbot that pops up in a small window offering to help answer questions and guide you to needed information.

Now, companies have created an enhanced version of a chatbot, designed to simulate the qualities of a human friendship called an "artificial intelligence companion." As adults, we recognize that these digital versions of "friends" can never replace real human friendships for good conversation, for advice, and for companionship. Our students, however may not have the social and emotional maturity to distinguish between good advice from a relative or loved one; and the digital advice from an AI Companion which may lack the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

According to a recent report from Common Sense Media, parents and caregivers should never allow children under the age of 18 to interact with AI Companions (apps such as character.ai, nomi, and replika; sometimes marketed as an AI "boyfriend" or AI "girlfriend"). You can find the full report from Common Sense Media at https://www.commonsensemedia.org/press-releases/ai-companions-decoded-common-sense-media-recommends-ai-companion-safety-standards

Another potentially dangerous trend in the news recently is online predators trolling for children on popular online games, such as Roblox and Minecraft.

Many games on computers, tablets, smart phones, game systems like XBox and Playstation offer players the ability to play against and chat with users from all over the world. Unfortunately, some of the online players are not who they claim to be. These online predators may attempt to gain your child's trust by posing as another child, and then influence your child to engage in harmful acts.

A recent article from ABC News revealed that the FBI currently has 250 investigations across the country into online predators (https://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-opened-250-investigations-tied-violent-online-network/story?id=121480884). According to a recent article from Parents magazine, talking with your child about not interacting online with strangers and setting appropriate privacy features can help protect them from inappropriate messages, cyberbullying and online predators. You can find the full article from Parents magazine at https://www.parents.com/online-gaming-risks-for-kids-11725359

Another online activity for a lot of teens is using social media. While most social media platforms do not allow students under the age of 13 to create accounts, many of our middle and high school students spend time on social media platforms. You can find an article about how to keep your student safe when using social media at https://www.catoosa.k12.ga.us/parent_and_student_information/safe_screens