Student account passwords reset by administration

All CVHS students with their student I.D. number still as their school email account password had their passwords changed by the administration over spring break. This change was spurred when a chain of students began using other students’ accounts to send mean messages.

When all CVHS attendees were registered for Gmail accounts at the beginning of this year, both the email addresses and passwords given matched each person’s student I.D. number. All students were supposed to be made aware of the fact they could go into the Aeries system and change these passwords, or have a teacher change them, but this message never got out to the general school population.

“Most kids did not change their passwords…they went through and did a tally and about 70 percent of students did not change their password,” said social studies teacher Jeff Goldstein.

Because both the email addresses and passwords matched the students I.D. number, it was relatively easy for students to log into accounts that were not their own. There were instances of students bullying other students from an account that did not belong to them because the owner of said account did not change the password from the student I.D. number. These nasty messages caused tension among students, and fights among friends.

“Anyone could use almost anyone’s account…we wanted to give students privacy,” said Goldstein.

Students were warned by teachers that their passwords would be changed during the break, and some teachers even had their students change their passwords in class. If a student had already changed the password from the I.D. number, it remained the same.

Students can find their new passwords by signing into their Aeries accounts, clicking on “Student Info” at the top of the page, then clicking on “Supplemental.” The new passwords are random, very long numbers. Without these new passwords, students will be unable to log into their school email accounts, or the on-campus wifi.

To change a password, a student can click “change” on the “Supplemental” page, erase the number in the “Password” slot, and type in a new password. Students can also ask a teacher to change the passwords for them. After making a password change, a student must then log out of the account. The password will take anywhere between five and 15 minutes to go into effect.

“It is really easy for teachers to change the password because teachers have access to their students’ ‘Supplemental’ page,” said Goldstein. “So when changing your password remember that all your teachers can see it, and your parents can see it, as well as you, so you don’t want to make it the same as your password for your Tumblr or your Facebook, or anything like that.”