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  • 1.  Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 01-08-2024 01:11 PM

    Happy New Year, everyone!

    I'm curious about your school's policy regarding the installation of school-related apps on personal devices, owned by employees. 
    We have several mobile apps which employees are "recommended" to install, mainly for convenience. There are alternative ways to interact with the platforms if they select to not use the recommended apps on their personal phones. 
    We are currently considering a new solution that is "mobile-only" and would require employees to install an app to fulfill certain (required) administrative tasks. 
    Does your school require employees to install any apps on their personal devices? 
    • If so, how have you handled that with employees?
    • If not, how have you managed a "mobile-only" solution for employees who prefer to not have school apps on their personal device?
    Thanks for sharing any experience, thoughts or insights on this topic.
    Jim

    Jim Anderson

    Chief Technology Officer

    he | him | his

    ____________________________

    The Packer Collegiate Institute

    170 Joralemon Street | Brooklyn, NY 11201

    www.packer.edu

    Please consider the environmental impact before printing this email.


    #General

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    Jim Anderson
    The Packer Collegiate Institute
    Brooklyn NY
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  • 2.  RE: Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 01-09-2024 01:01 PM

    Hi Jim,

    Just wanted to toss out that in at least two states, California and Illinois, if an employer asks employees to use their personal devices for work (including adding an app), then they need to compensate them for this. I recommend checking state laws before asking anyone to use their personal device for work. 

    Best, 

    Stacy



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    Stacy Hawthorne, Ed.D., CETL
    Chief Academic Officer
    Learn21
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 01-09-2024 01:40 PM

    Hi Jim,

    At St Margaret's our employees are asked to have two things on their cell phones and these are communicated in the beginning of the year: Titan HST (emergency communciation system) and the app we use for multi-factor authentication which we implemented school-wide two years ago. Since this implementation, our school gives most employees a small monthly stipend to go towards cell phone use. I included the language from the email below. To my knowledge we do not have anyone that did not install these, but both would also be compatable with a laptop so there is that to fall back on if needed. Hope this is helpful!

    Angela

    Dear Colleague,

     With the increased use of smart phone capabilities on campus coupled with increased access to unlimited talk/text/data plans available across multiple providers, we have updated our cell phone reimbursement policy effective July 1.  The new policy reimburses all regularly scheduled employees for personal smart phone use at $10 per month. You are receiving this email because you will be included in the automatic reimbursement through payroll.  This reimbursement is not taxable and will be reflected appropriately on your pay stub.

    Other employees who use their personal phones for school / business purposes can still submit a request for reimbursement of out of pocket costs through normal expense reimbursement practices and are encouraged to do so.



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    Angela Mackenzie
    St. Margaret's Episcopal School
    San Juan Capistrano CA
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 01-09-2024 04:48 PM

    Echoing the posts here, we do not require employees to install apps on their phones due to the fact that we would then need to reimburse them for that use.

    Additionally, we have added the following policy to our employee handbook  for those who do use their personal phones:

    6.4 DUAL DEVICE POLICY
    Using a personal phone, computer or tablet for school business may pose a risk to the integrity of the School's data, the network, and the School's platforms used for operations that are being accessed. The purpose of this policy is to protect both the School and the employee if an incident occurs. These systems include, but are not limited to our authentication apps to access school platforms, student information systems, health information, emergency, or school communication such as email.
     
    As such, employees who use their own personal device to access school data must:
     
    ▪ Ensure that the device has a password or some other security measure such as thumbprint or Face ID that is required to open or begin using the device
    ▪ Alert the Cybersecurity Incident Response Team within 48 hours of a device being lost or compromised in accordance with Kinkaid's Crisis Management procedures
    ▪ Allow the school to access the personal device upon request to investigate incidents related to school business or to begin to mitigate a suspected leak or breach affecting the School's network, systems, or data
     
    Employees are expected to comply with all School policies when using cellular/smart phones, PDAs, and other electronic devices while at School or on School-related business. In the remainder of this policy, these devices are collectively referred to as "electronic devices."


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    Vinnie Vrotny
    The Kinkaid School
    Houston TX
    vinnie.vrotny@kinkaid.org
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 02-13-2024 10:21 AM

    My school is in PA and there are no regulations about compensation for using a personal device for work. We do require our faculty and staff to use their mobile devices for Ruvna, which is what we use for emergency alerts (fire/lockdown/shelter in place/etc)



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    Scott Davis
    Edu-Tech Academic Solutions
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 02-14-2024 08:59 AM

    Hi Jim,

    We have required apps for our school- emergency notifications and MFA. In the event that there is an employee who doesn't have a personal device, we have a workaround for MFA.

    I found this info on mosey.com about reimbursement:

    Nine US states and two local jurisdictions require employers to reimburse their employees for certain work-related expenses in certain situations:

    1. California
    2. District of Columbia
    3. Illinois
    4. Iowa
    5. Minnesota
    6. Montana
    7. New Hampshire
    8. New York
    9. North Dakota
    10. South Dakota
    11. Seattle

    So if your school is requiring an app on a personal device, you may be required by law to compensate your faculty/staff.



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    Lauren Henderson
    Dexter Southfield School
    Brookline MA
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 03-08-2024 02:17 PM

    Hi Jim,

    We require an app Ruvna for crisis management communications & attendance and the school offers no reimbursement to the staff. (The app is free; the school subscription not.). It is an in-between area since staff mobile phones are not managed by the school (eg. MDM) but it is expected that the app be installed.



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    Dave Brubaker
    Edu-Tech Academic Solutions
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Requiring school apps on employee mobile devices?

    Posted 03-08-2024 02:24 PM

    Thanks for all your responses. Very, very helpful!

    Much appreciated.
    Jim



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    Jim Anderson
    The Packer Collegiate Institute
    Brooklyn NY
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    Original Message


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