Getting Started
Monitor

Monitor is a 24/7/365 service designed to help keep your students safe. It is necessary for your district to assign contact roles to staff members who will be contacted for emergency phone calls and email alerts. Monitor has a number of roles you can assign to users that grant access to a different set of features, functions, and data based on their position in your school. You should only give your users the most limited role that will meet their needs for access and pay particular attention to restricting access to users’ confidential data.

• Safeguarding Contacts

• Limited Safeguarding Contacts

• Reporting Contacts

• IT Contacts

Click here to learn more about each contact type and their access to Monitor.  

Completing your district's contact sheet for Monitor is an important first step of your onboarding process. This document should be completed with your Safeguarding and IT contacts. Once completed and uploaded, your Safeguarding contacts will have access to edit and add additional contacts and alerting profiles within Monitor. 

If you need guidance on how to fill out your contact sheet, refer to this video.

If you choose to add an outside group, like a local police department, as a Safeguarding Contact to receive alert phone calls when your in-school contacts are not available, or, as a back up number in case your contacts do not pick up their calls, you will need to meet with a member of our Customer Engagement Team to work through the process. 

• Schools and Law Enforcement need to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Monitor does not provide MOUs or legal advice.  

• Law Enforcement will need to access students' names, addresses and parents'/guardians' information in the event of an emergency. Monitor's moderation team will only provide the student's username in the event of an emergency.

• Use this form when working with your local Law Enforcement to ensure proper procedures are in place.

• Email customerengagement@linewize.com to contact a Customer Engagement Team member. 

Why would you need to integrate your directory?

Although syncing your directory is optional, it is required under these circumstances:

• To have student names included in the event details 

• To properly set up Limited Safeguarding contacts

• To use additional alerting profiles/to create multiple alerting profiles for different groups of contacts

You do NOT need to integrate your directory IF:

• Your student usernames are sufficient without the student's name in the event details

• You will only be using the default alerting profile and all safeguarding contacts wish to have the same email notifications

• You will NOT have any Limited Safeguarding contacts

  • ***NOTE: If you plan to have Limited Safeguarding Contacts, you MUST complete your directory sync and create Linewize Groups you can assign Limited Safeguarding contacts to in order for them to have access to event data AND to receive email notifications. If Limited Safeguarding Contacts are not added to an additional alerting profile with a Linewize Group assigned, the contacts will NOT receive email notifications or have data visible in their events page***

How to sync your directories

You can sync your school directories with Monitor to ensure your staff receive alerts for the current students they are responsible for supporting. Syncing student data regularly from Google Directory, Azure Active Directory (Microsoft Entra ID) or Windows Active Directory ensures you have accurate data without having to manually enter changes into Monitor. 

After syncing your school directories, you can add Linewize Groups. This allows you to map your Directory Groups from your connected directories into convenient groups that can be used in Filter Policies, Safeguarding Alerts and Alerting Profiles. Click the links below for additional information and instructions.

• Syncing Directories with Monitor

• Syncing Azure Directory with Monitor (Microsoft Entra ID)

• Syncing Google Directory with Monitor

• Syncing Windows Active Directory (No Appliance/Gateway)

• Setting Up Groups

It is important to update your default alerting profiles and create additional alerting profiles (if needed) prior to your deployment. Alerting profiles are customizable profiles that contain your Safeguarding and Limited Safeguarding contacts, student groups, and email alert thresholds. 

Default Alerting Profiles

Each organization/tenant will have a default alerting profile. The default alerting profile will automatically include the safeguarding contacts that were in your contact sheet for the organization in the phone tree. When an emergency call is made, the moderator will call through the phone tree in the order it is listed but will skip any contacts that have notes indicating they are outside of their hours of availability.

Prior to your deployment, make sure to review the default alerting profiles of each organization to:

• Update the age group (Younger Child for K-5 and Older Child for 6-12)

• Ensure all Safeguarding contacts are listed in the proper order in the phone tree

• Update the email notification thresholds to your liking 

  • We recommend starting with level 3+ for all categories during your initial launch and adjusting based on your staff feedback and needs 

  • If you would like to review the level definitions in each category to inform your decision, click here to find articles on each risk category and their level definitions

• Tip: Ensure NO Limited Safeguarding contacts are assigned to your default alerting profiles as they will NOT receive emails or have access to data in their events page

Additional Alerting Profiles

After the Global Admin syncs your student directories and adds Linewize Groups, Safeguarding Contact can then create additional alerting profiles to each organization. This is REQUIRED if you will have Limited Safeguarding contacts, but if optional if you would like to have different notification settings for different groups of contacts.

Additional Alerting Profiles can be used to:

• Assign different notification preferences for different teams 

  • ie. District admin in one additional alerting profile with high email thresholds for select risk categories and Campus admin in another with email thresholds lowered in all categories for daily intervention needs

• Assign Limited Safeguarding contacts to Linewize groups 

  • LSGs must be assigned to a group of users (can be any group of users within the students in their org) through an additional alerting profile 

  • ie. High School counselors are set as LSGs and only assigned to their case load of students in their school

To create an additional alerting profile, select "Add Additional Alerting Profile". You will then:

• Assign an age group  (Younger Child for K-5 and Older Child for 6-12)

• Assign a target group (choose the appropriate Linewize Group from the dropdown)

• Add Safeguarding or Limited Safeguarding contacts to the phone tree

• Add Safeguarding or Limited Safeguarding contacts to the email contacts

• Update the email notification thresholds to the likings of the email contacts assigned

***IMPORTANT NOTE: When additional alerting profiles are in place, the additional alerting profile will send the notifications when the logged in user is recognized by the Linewize Group assigned to the additional alerting profile. When this happens, the default alerting profile will go null and any users in the default and NOT in the additional alerting profile will not receive email notifications. Please ensure all contacts in the default alerting profile are assigned to the additional alerting profiles they need as well***

Alerting Profile Support Resources

Watch the "Alerting Profiles" video in the Monitor Bite Sized Video section below. 

Creating Alerting Profiles

Guidelines for Custom Alerting Profiles

Schedule a "Monitor Settings Check" with a Monitor Trainer to walk through alerting profile edits and request recommendations.

When an alert call is needed, Monitor's moderation team will reach out to the contacts listed within your school's alerting profile call tree. It is imperative to ensure that contacts have updated phone numbers and email addresses. Based on the contact's availability, the team starts with those listed at the top and work down. Contacts can be dragged and dropped in the order they should be called. In an attempt to make contact as quickly as possible:

1. First, they will call through the list without leaving a voicemail.

2. Second, they will call through the list and leave a voicemail.

3. Third, they will send email alerts.

Once contact is made, the moderation team will provide the username of the student. It is important that the contact has access to look up the student's information, address, and parents'/guardians' information. This is a 24/7/365 service, so please ensure contacts also have the ability to access student information after school hours and on weekends and breaks.

Emergency phone call alerts will come from: 1-858-666-6910

Guidelines for Alert Calls in Monitor

Linewize can provide you with an email template notifying parents of Monitor, how it works, and guidelines around student privacy. Please email customerengagement@linewize.com to request this template. 

Considering Summer Break 

Monitor is a 24/7/365 program when operating in its default state. During the summer, districts may want to consider turning Monitor off during the summer break if:

• Students will have school devices at home over summer break

• There is a lack of staff availability to address Monitor events over summer

Districts do NOT need to turn Monitor off if students will NOT have access to school devices over the summer. Due to students not being active on their devices, there is no need to turn Monitor off.

How to turn Monitor off

Although Monitor is recommended to be active 24/7/365 while students are active on school devices, Monitor customers can request for a scheduling feature to be turned on. Monitor's scheduling feature allows users to schedule Monitor to be set as inactive. 

To submit a request for the scheduling feature to be enabled, start by reviewing this document and following the steps to submit your request. Once your steps are complete, Linewize support will reach out to notify you when the feature is turned on and provide training resources for the feature. Your safeguarding contact will then be able to self-manage Monitor's schedules. 

"Creating and Managing Contacts in Monitor" Help Article

Removing contacts 

To remove a contact from Monitor, Safeguarding contacts can go to the contact sections of each organization the contact is enrolled in and delete the contact. Once the contact is deleted from all organizations, they will no longer be able to log into Monitor and their account is closed. 

Moving a contact from one organization to another

A safeguarding contact can delete the contact information from the old organization contact section and add the contact into the new organization. Once the contact has been added, make sure to add the contact into the appropriate alerting profile for their notifications to come in properly.

Adding a new contact

An existing safeguarding contact assigned to the same organization as the new contact will need to navigate to the contact section within the organization and add a new contact. They will then need to add the new contact into the  appropriate alerting profile for their notifications to come in properly.

Upgrading a contact role

When upgrading the permissions of a contact in Monitor, the contact will need to be deleted from the old role and readded as the new role within the organization. If the contact is added into the new role before deleting the old role, the new contact will not save. 

Updating contact details

When updating a contact's phone number, the phone number will need to be updated in at least one org that the contact is enrolled in and the phone number will update in all other organizations the contact is enrolled in.

When updating a contact's notes, the notes will need to be updated in each organization as each organization allows different notes to be saved in a repeated contact.

Why do you need to review your Linewize Groups?

If you are currently using additional alerting profiles, these alerting profiles are dependent on Linewize Groups. Linewize Groups are created and managed by Global Admin are created with OU groups/Google groups so that alerting profiles consider what user is logged into the organizations devices to dictate which Monitor contacts receive notifications and access to user data.

Over the summer, it is important to doublecheck that the Linewize Groups are using the proper OUs/Google Groups for the campus that they are assigned. 

Ex: Abbott Elementary has additional alerting profiles for campus admin notifications and district admin notifications. Both alerting profiles are using their Linewize Group "Abbott Elementary All Students" which is comprised of the OUs "AES '37", "AES '36", "AES '35", "AES '34", "AES '33", and "AES '32".

• Due to the fact the OUs are graduating classes, the Linewize Group will need to be edited to add "AES '38" and remove "AES '32" since the 5th grade students are leaving this school and a new kindergarten class is coming in. 

How to update your Linewize Groups

1. Global Admin will need to open their Admin Panel and review the Linewize Groups assigned to each tenant/organization

2. If the OUs/Google groups for a tenant include students that will no longer be attending that school, they will need to select "edit" on the Linewize group and will be able to remove and add new OUs/Google Groups to the existing Linewize group. 

What information is captured in flagged images?

Cloud Scan provides pieces of information to help you review images appropriately. They show you when these images are shared, what kinds of flagged images are shared, and how many users have access to these images.

What happens when Cloud Scan flags an image?

Cloud Scan manages access permissions to flagged images until you or another Safeguarding Lead has reviewed them. When an image is flagged:

• The user still owns the file.

• The Safeguarding Contact has a read-only or view-only access to the image.

• Permission for any other users who have access to the file is unchanged.

• If the Safeguarding Lead marks the image as safe, it stays in the cloud storage and is excluded from future scans, unless the image is edited.

• If a Safeguarding Lead deletes the image, it’s removed from the cloud storage.

For customers with the Cloud Scan Add-on, your deployment engineer will work with you on your configuration and enablement of the feature in addition to your standard Monitor Deployment. Here are some articles to give an overview of what to expect:

Cloud Scan Configuration for Microsoft 365

Cloud Scan integration for Google Workspace

If at any time you need to edit, deactivate, or reactivate a Cloud Scan integration, review this help article for instructions.

Cloud Scan inspects your organization's cloud storage for unsafe images. We recommend ensuring your organization provides adequate information and education on relevant policies, procedures and local laws.

• Inform users about cloud storage scanning. Let users know you’re scanning the organization’s cloud storage and explain why. Tell them you’re taking steps to protect their privacy and personal data, like adhering to policies and procedures on protecting users’ personal information and acceptable use of technology.

• Inform users and staff on relevant IT policies. Ensure all users and staff know your organisation’s policies and procedures on acceptable use of technology, information security, and privacy. Update these policies where needed.

• Train users and staff on Safeguarding policies and procedures. Ensure your organisation’s Safeguarding policies and procedures are up to date. Upskill the staff and Safeguarding Leads on these policies and procedures so they can act accordingly when reviewing Cloud Scan results.

• Get advice from your leaders. Seek advice from your supervisors or leadership team if you need to refer users for uploading images that breach code of conduct, internal policies, or local laws.

• Adhere to local laws and regulations on privacy and data protection. Scan results let you view concerning images saved in cloud storage. Be mindful of local laws protecting users’ privacy and personal data and those of the subjects or persons that may appear on these images.

• Prepare reviewers and Safeguarding Leads for confronting images. Scan results may include sensitive or disturbing images that could trigger discomfort and anxiety. Therefore, it’s important to ensure Safeguarding Leads are ready and adequately trained to handle such content.

We’ve prepared a checklist to help you get on top of your Cloud Scan preparation.

The first scan may take up to a few hours. Scanning duration may vary according to the number of files saved in the cloud storage. Since you’re scanning cloud storage for the first time, Cloud Scan will inspect all images in the cloud storage and this can take a while. Subsequent scans will exclude the images that Safeguarding Leads marked as safe.

Expect a large volume of flagged content. This is especially true if your organization has used cloud storage for a few years. With potentially large volumes of flagged content, consider allocating resources to review flagged images and evaluate which categories or users have triggered these flags.

• Tip: Consider scanning smaller groups of users to make scanning quicker. If you’re a small team responsible for multiple sites or schools, scan one site or school at a time to generate results faster.

Some users may be responsible for the most flagged content. The school may want to focus on these users for intervention. For example, you can add a safeguarding record or a referral to another agency, depending on the content found or if the user has violated policies, procedures and local laws.

Flagged images may cause discomfort or anxiety. Scan results may include images depicting hate, gore, violence, and adult themes. A very small percentage of images may also be assigned to unexpected categories. For example, an image that is categorized under “Violence” may actually show victims of violence. Preview files at your discretion and take time off from reviewing results if needed.

Reviewing Cloud Scan results

Understand your Cloud Scan results

Overview of Cloud Scan categories

Cloud Scan email notification overview

Can I pause scanning of cloud storage without deleting cloud integration?

You can pause cloud scanning by deactivating cloud integration. This won’t delete or deactivate your Google or Microsoft setup.

To deactivate a cloud integration, open your cloud integration and select Deactivate Integration on the lower right of the screen. When you’re ready to restart scanning of your cloud storage, open your deactivated cloud integration and select Activate Integration. Scanning will resume within 24 hours.

Cloud Scan FAQ and troubleshooting