The Chester Union Free School District is committed to providing every student with a comprehensive educational experience which maximizes individual potential. To support the mission of the District, it is imperative that there is a seamless integration of technology which enhances, facilitates, and supports teaching and learning. Our students utilize technology in every aspect of their lives. We must continue to work towards the establishment of a technology infused collaborative learning community. This type of environment will encourage inquiry, creativity and the development of 21st Century skills.

District Technology Overview

Chester Schools was the first K-12 school district in the Hudson Valley, NY to send home 1-to-1 student and teacher Chromebooks starting in 2012-13 and awarded a NYSSBA “Innovative School” competitive award in 2014. The 1-to-1 plan initially covered Grade 8-12 students and teachers. During the 2019-2020 school year, the plan was expanded to cover all K-12 students and teachers. We completed NYS Smart Schools Bond Act projects and reimbursements during the 2018-19 school year. A major focus of our projects addressed upgrades in the area of: district-wide security cameras, network infrastructure upgrades, Newline Boards for K-12 classrooms and the acquisition of additional K-12 Chromebooks. We almost put in place significant upgrades to our network for Cybersecurity during the 2019-2020 school year. The District Technology Committee met several times during the 2021-22 school year to share feedback from a variety of stakeholders, to upgrade our District Technology Plan and make continued improvements based upon growing technology needs around the district. In 2021-22 the Technology Departments shared an updated NYS Digital Equity Survey with all K-12 parents to assess any technology needs in regard to remote learning. The district has provided home Internet access “hotspots” to families in need as part of this plan.

CUFSD Tech Plan 2022-2025_PROPOSEDdraft121721 

Parent Portal allows you access to your student’s profile via the internet anytime, anywhere. The family-oriented design enables you to view all of your student’s information with one log-in regardless of grade or school assignment.  Parent Portal is a highly secure, internet-based application through which you are able to view district-permitted details of your student’s academic records.
Parent Portal / Schooltool (chesterufsd.org)  

Technical & Informational Notes:

• Parents should not share their password with anyone and should not set their browsers to auto login to the portal. Please see the letter sent home for more information and all rules explained.
• Stepparents or guardians that do not have legal custody of a child will not be granted parent portal right unless a copy of legal documentation is attached to the Acceptance Form.
• Security features of the Parent Portal include:
  > Three unsuccessful login attempts will disable your Parent Portal account.
  > In order to use the portal again, you will need to contact Mr. Ed Spence, who can generate a new temporary password for you.
  > You will be automatically logged off if you leave the Parent Portal web browser open and inactive for a period of time.
  > All attempts at logging into the system are recorded and monitored.
• If you have a third-party firewall installed on your computer, such as McAfee or Norton Symantec, etc., you may need to configure this firewall software to this website. Please contact your software vendor if you encounter problems accessing the website or for further information.
• If you are going through a proxy server, you may also have to enable Secure Socket Layer (SSL) in order for the page to display.

We hope this information is helpful to parents/guardians. Please contact Mr. Ed Spence with any questions or concerns. Thank you.

Internet access is available to students in the Chester School District. Our goal in providing this service to students is to promote educational excellence in the district by facilitating resource sharing, innovation and communication. An Acceptable Use Contract is a written agreement, signed by students and their parents or guardians, outlining the terms and conditions of Network and Internet use. It specifically sets out acceptable uses, rules of online behavior, and access privileges. (Board Policy 7315)

This document must be reviewed and completed by both Students & Parent-Guardians and submitted to be on file in the Main Office. Failure to submit the completed form will result in discontinuing internet access through the Chromebook.

Chester UFSD COMPUTER NETWORK/INTERNET ACCEPTABLE USE form