Student safety platform Lightspeed Systems has earned a new privacy certification from Common Sense Media as schools push for greater data transparency. The company provides web filtering and security software to over 25 million students worldwide. It is opening up its data practices amid rising concerns over how artificial intelligence uses student information. This comes as schools nationwide struggle to manage a massive influx of educational technology apps.
What Happened
According to Common Sense Privacy, Lightspeed Systems is among the latest EdTech vendors to secure the newly launched Common Sense Privacy Seal. To earn this seal, a company must pass an assessment measuring more than 200 privacy points. These include commitments to not sell student data, use it for targeted advertising, or build commercial profiles on children, as outlined by Common Sense Privacy's standards. Only about 10% of evaluated companies meet these requirements.
Lightspeed has launched a public Trust Center where school districts and parents can inspect the company’s data protection impact assessments, third-party subprocessor details, and independent security audits. The company has also pledged to turn off all of its new AI-driven features by default. School administrators must actively review and approve these tools before they are used in classrooms.
The Bigger Picture
As student data privacy concerns grow, this certification highlights a broader shift in school technology management. As we previously reported, modern student databases present unique privacy risks if not tightly secured. Today, many school districts are cutting back on the volume of software they use to minimize these vulnerabilities.
For example, Denver Public Schools used Lightspeed's monitoring tools to identify and evaluate more than 1,200 active digital tools. They eventually slashed their authorized catalog to 250 reviewed applications, which is a 79% reduction. Similarly, school districts like Carroll ISD in Texas have cut their active tech applications by 86% in favor of hands-on career programs.
This consolidation occurs alongside pushback against unchecked classroom AI. According to The Seattle Times, prominent districts like New York City and Los Angeles previously instituted temporary bans on generative AI tools to assess their safety. While major providers like Microsoft have signed binding agreements with the American Federation of Teachers to prevent student data from being used to train general AI models, many other tech giants have yet to follow suit. School districts are also legally required to verify whether third-party AI tools comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This law requires schools to maintain direct control over student data shared with outside vendors, as detailed by legal compliance guides.
What This Means for Families
These developments offer some reassurance to parents and educators, but they also show the need for continued vigilance. The Common Sense Privacy Seal helps vet software, but families should understand its limitations. The seal is awarded based on policy and documentation reviews rather than active technical testing of the software's codebase.
Even if a company’s written policies are strong, school districts must still monitor compliance and restrict access to unauthorized software.
What You Can Do
To protect student data, parents can start by asking their district for an approved software list. Many districts, such as Denver Public Schools, use public portals to show which apps are approved, rejected, or under review. Parents should also ask about AI default settings. It is worth checking with teachers or the school IT department to ensure classroom AI tools are disabled by default until they are formally vetted for FERPA compliance. Finally, families can monitor household EdTech use. Encourage children to only use school-approved platforms for homework and avoid downloading unauthorized browser extensions, which often bypass school privacy filters.