It is my understanding that COPPA governs the websites that provide student services to districts and forbids them from knowingly collecting information from children under 13 years of age. CIPA governs filtering content by school districts and public libraries who receive federal funds.
Thus districts that do not disclose to a web service provider that their users are under the age of 13 are in violation of the spirit of COPPA. This is why the TOS of nearly every educational site states that they are not for use with children under the age of 13 without parental permission. Districts are not in compliance if they ask students to sign up for such services without disclosing that they are under 13.
In Union County Public Schools all students are exposed to Internet Safety, Cyber Bullying and Digital Literacy at the beginning of each year. Our elementary students receive this information through our Media Coordinators during orientation and our secondary students are required to complete an online module on their Chromebooks upon their first login.
