What is Gaggle?

Gaggle was launched in 1999 and was one of the pioneering companies to provide a safe student email solution. Since then Gaggle has grown to offer so much more. We have grown to be a leader in “safe technology” within the K-12 market. Gaggle currently provides safe student communication tools to more than 15,000 schools in 57 countries, while managing over 2 million accounts and storing more than 750 million emails. Our online tools include safe student email, shared calendars, homework drop boxes, message boards, blogs, digital lockers, online document editing and collaborative, safe SMS Texting and filtered YouTube access.

How long will it take to implement Gaggle?

Implementation of Gaggle, from contract to roll-out of accounts, can be accomplished in as little as 5-7 business days. The timeline is ultimately dependent on the District’s availability for the initial implementation meeting and completion of required worksheets and documents. The success of initial implementation is ensured through regular contact between Gaggle’s Account Representative and the District’s designated contact person. Gaggle is committed to making this process as efficient and easy as possible.

Where can I find a list of Gaggle features?

Many of our features are described in our "Gaggle Apps" section of this site.

What is the cost for Gaggle?

You can purchase individual accounts for $6.00 each or as little as $3.75 per student on a district wide basis. The accounts are sold as an annual subscription service.

There are grants and other federal funding sources such as E-rate that can help your district afford the Gaggle subscription version.

What kind of Customer Service does Gaggle offer?

Gaggle prides itself on providing outstanding customer service. Customers can reach the Gaggle customer service team via our toll-free number or Live Chat feature between 7:00AM – 6:00PM, Monday-Friday (CST). After normal business hours and on weekends, and holidays, customers are encouraged to reach our service department via our admin@gaggle.net address. We guarantee a 8 hour or less response time, even on weekends and holidays, with typical response times are less than 2 hours. In addition to telephone and email support, customers may choose to take advantage of our extensive library of online documentation, which includes “Quick Start Guides,” walkthroughs of several features, and tutorials.

Are Gaggle’s services eRate Eligible?

Gaggle is an experienced eRate Service Provider that is in good standing with the SLD and understands the extensive workings of the eRate program. We have provided our services through eRate since 2002, and will work with your District to meet eRate time frames as it pertains to service start dates and implementation. Our Email service is 100% eRate eligible with our Student Web Hosting tools 80% eRate eligible. Gaggle’s SPIN Number is 143024051.

Does Gaggle meet CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) requirements to “block visual depictions that are obscene or are harmful to minors”?

One of the important provisions of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) states that schools must have technology measures in place to protect against visual depictions that are obscene or pornographic.

Gaggle provides real time image analysis to detect and prevent pornographic images displayed through email. The best option that other providers can suggest is to block all attachments. However, this will not prevent pornographic images that are sent as linked files or the inclusion of URLs that point to pornographic web sites. While filters such as Xstop and 8e6 may block some pornographic sites via a blacklist, there are many other sites that will only be blocked via Gaggle's Anti-Pornography Scanner (APS).

At Gaggle we believe that pornography protection is vital for a district-provided tool that will also be used from home. No educator wants to get an angry phone call from a parent whose child accessed a pornographic picture or web site from a message that was received in a school provided email account. Gaggle's ability to block pornographic attachments, and messages with links to pornographic web sites, can provide the peace of mind administrators and parents need before allowing student email access.

Does Gaggle comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)?

Yes, Gaggle is in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. For more details read our statement of compliance.

What is Gaggle’s Privacy Policy?

A detailed description of Gaggle’s Privacy Policy can be found on our website: Gaggle Privacy Policy

How much storage is available with our Gaggle accounts?

The Subscription Accounts include 7 GB of storage space per user. Gaggle offers other storage options for an additional fee including: Virtual Drives (1 GB, 2 GB or unlimited storage) as well as an Unlimited Email Storage option.

Can I forward my Gaggle email to my district email address?

Gaggle has a forwarding feature that will allow users to forward mail to another email address. You can set it up to forward or copy all of your mail or just forward your blocked messages. Only users with the access level of School Staff or above can forward mail.

Does Gaggle offer Parent Accounts?

Gaggle offers Parent Accounts that allow parents to be linked to their students at multiple schools to help monitor their accounts as well as to facilitate home-to-school communication. For more information please check out Gaggle's Parent Account Page.

Can you explain the access levels?

Gaggle offers numerous access levels to customize our solution to meet the needs of your district. The access levels include: District Master, District Administrator, School Master, School Administrator, Enhanced Teacher, Teacher, Staff, Parent Accounts, Student, Gaggle Only, District Only, School Only, Class Only, Admin Only, Read Only, and Suspended, among others. Each of the access levels has different email privileges and can control different parameters for the group and member accounts. Some users can change the Blocked Word and Blocked Address Lists as well as read and edit other users' email. We would be happy to explain our extensive user permissioning in detail, upon request.

What reports are available?

All Gaggle user activity is tracked and this data is stored with an exact time stamp. The data can be reported on an individual user, per school, or district wide basis. Reports include bar graphs and pie charts for appropriate data. The raw data in CSV format is also sent as part of each report. Gaggle has over 40 different tracked activities such as logins, emails sent, emails blocked, blog posts, social wall posts, homework submissions and many more.

Automated monthly reports are also available to District Administrator level users. The standard reports include logins, sent mail, blog entries, blocked messages, intercepted spam, locker file uploads, message board posts and chat room usage.

Is there a free version of Gaggle?

For many years Gaggle has offered a free version for teachers and schools who cannot afford to subscribe. We want teachers to show decision makers that online tools can be safe and are a great way to encourage student excitement and learning.

The free version of Gaggle is supported by advertising. We block the offensive ads, but all ads are distracting by nature. It's the best option we found to support classroom teachers but still allow our company to grow and thrive. At the end of the day we need money to make our servers hum.

Gaggle is still offering the free version of our service to selected schools and teachers. It's an invitation only thing. If you would like to apply for the free version of Gaggle please call us at (800) 288-7750.

Can Gaggle restrict the display name in the emails that are sent?

Gaggle offers an Email Display Name feature which can restrict the display name to first name, first name and last initial, full name, or none.

Can I send an email to all the students in my school?

Gaggle’s built-in address groups make this easy! Simply Click "To:" on your Compose screen, and use the drop down menu at the top to choose Built-In Address Groups. Your choices are determined by your access level, but teachers and above can send to all students, all teachers, or all users in the school. District level accounts have similar options to send to an entire school or the entire district.

Do you have any examples of a Student Online Safety Pledge?

Gaggle has a sample document that can be downloaded and used as a Student Online Safety Pledge. The file is in Rich Text Format (RTF). It will open with any word processing program such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat or Star Office. This document is also available in Spanish.

How can I find messages in my students’ accounts?

Using Gaggle’s Search feature you can search an individual account or multiple accounts depending on your access level. On the left side bar, click the small arrow next to the spyglass icon in the search box. The Advanced Search screen has multiple parameters to enter for your search. The results will be displayed with your search terms highlighted in red.

Do Administrator and Teacher accounts get blocked and monitored?

School Master, School Administrator and Teacher accounts will only be monitored by the system if you assign an administrator to the user. We recommend that you leave the administrator line blank for these users.

These accounts have full, regular email privileges. They can send to any email address on the web and they can use adult language.

School Masters can view the contents of School Administrator and Teacher accounts. You should remember that email is not 100% private. Your organization has the legal right to view the contents of your email. This is true for all email whether it is provided by a company, your school district or your Internet Service Provider.

Does your system offer Language Translation features?

Gaggle includes a built-in language translation feature that supports forty-three different languages. This feature is available on the Gaggle write mail screen, read mail screen, message boards, and blogs.

What is Gaggle’s HMS?

HMS stands for Human Monitoring Service. With HMS, all blocked email messages are routed to your Gaggle Customer Service Representative, eliminating the need for teachers to review questionable emails. If the email text is acceptable, the message is unblocked and delivered to the intended recipient. If the blocked email was warranted, the Gaggle representative then initiates an internal User Violation Report (UVR), based upon the district’s discipline and escalation policy, and forwards the message to the student’s administrator for appropriate follow-up.

Does Gaggle offer an Email Archiving Solution?

Gaggle offers a hosted Email Archiving Solution that is compatible with Microsoft Exchange, GroupWise, FirstClass, Gmail, Lotus Notes, iMail, Postfix, Sendmail, qmail and Gaggle's own Accounts. There is no easier way to comply with Open Records Requirements and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that cover eDiscovery.