Dear Black Gold families,

Following the Government of Alberta’s recent announcement to establish new standards by September 1, 2024, to ensure personal mobile devices and social media do not disrupt learning, the Black Gold School Division will begin managing access to its Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) network by requiring students to register their devices Media Access Control (MAC) address. 

Instructions will be provided in schools to locate the MAC address on their educational devices. 

Students with Chromebooks and laptops will be able to register for WIFI access on our network to facilitate learning; however, their personal cell phones will not be registered onto the WIFI network – except for where the cell phones are used as medical monitoring devices, or needed to support specialized learning needs.

Starting on August 28, 2024, your children’s cell phone will no longer be able to access the Black Gold WIFI network and therefore may incur data charges by your cellular provider. We recommend that parents review this change with their children to reduce or eliminate data charges on their cell phone plans.

The upcoming changes are part of a measured approach to protect students by restricting the use of personal mobile devices during instructional time to reduce distractions and bullying, maximize learning time and support student mental health.