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Schools abandon Zoom for Microsoft Teams

by on07 April 2020


Zoom’s security problems were Vole’s gain

After many schools adopted Zoom to conduct online lessons during the coronavirus lockdown, concerns about security and privacy have led to a ban on the video conferencing software across the US.

Now the chancellor of New York City's Department of Education Richard Carranza sent an email to school principals telling them to "cease using Zoom as soon as possible".

Schools in other parts of the country have taken similar action, and educators are now being trained to use Microsoft Teams as this has been suggested as a suitable alternative, partly because it is compliant with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

Documents seen by Chalkbeat show that principals in NYC have been told: "Based on the DOE's review of those documented concerns, the DOE will no longer permit the use of Zoom at this time."

The Washington Post quotes Danielle Filson, spokesperson for the NYC Education Department, as saying: "Providing a safe and secure remote learning experience for our students is essential, and upon further review of security concerns, schools should move away from using Zoom as soon as possible. There are many new components to remote learning, and we are making real-time decisions in the best interest of our staff and student. We will support staff and students in transitioning to different platforms such as Microsoft Teams that have the same capabilities with appropriate security measures in place."

Now it seems all schools are looking for Zoom replacements.

 

Last modified on 07 April 2020
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