Sidney Schools Add Mobile App for Parents

Sidney Public Schools is adding a mobile app to help keep parents and guardians aware of their children's activity on school-issued devices, and to provide them with additional controls during out-of-school hours. The app is called GoGuardian Parent, and is a companion to the classroom management and internet filtering tools that Sidney Public Schools uses for devices issued to students. Through the use of this app, SPS hopes to encourage more open and honest conversations between parents and children that will result in safer practices and responsible browsing habits.

The GoGuardian Parent app was created to help provide additional educational support to administrators and teachers by allowing parents to see what sites and documents their children are browsing and providing parents with additional internet controls at home. The app gives parents a bird's eye view of the apps and websites that their kids are on most often and control over school-issued devices during out-of-school hours. With this perspective, parents can be made aware of what types of browsing behavior schools are seeing from students so they can all work together to encourage more effective internet browsing habits at home and at school.

The app includes a Top 5 summary of a student’s browsing (apps, extensions, documents, and websites visited), and a 30-day view of websites, videos, documents, apps, and extensions. It also parents the ability to block websites on school-issued devices during out-of-school hours, plus the ability to pause internet access on school-issued devices during out-of-school hours, either on-demand or at a scheduled time.

To access the app, please follow these instructions: Signup for Parent access at Sidney Parent Signup. Download GoGuardian Parent from the Apple app store or Google play store for android. Open the app and enter the email address registered with the school. Note: If you forgot your registered email address, please reach out to your school administrator. Check your email on your phone for a link to log in to the app. Tap the "Verify your email", and it will take you straight to the app. Note: If you don't have access to your email through the device you used to log in, tap on "Login with verification code", and copy and paste the verification code from the email into the app.

If you have any questions, you can reach us at [email protected].