The Indian Hill School District is pleased to share that CoSN — The Consortium for School Networking today announced that Indian Hill Schools has been awarded the Trusted Learning Environment (TLE) Mini Seal for the Business Practice, helping strengthen data privacy protections for the district's more than 2,200 students.

 

The CoSN TLE Seal is a national distinction recognizing school districts that implement strong policies and practices to help protect student data privacy, with the Mini Seal acknowledging progress in one of five key areas: Leadership, Business, Data Security, Professional Development, and the Classroom.

 

To qualify for the Mini Seal in the Business Practice, districts must:

·     Implement a process for vetting online services for data privacy and security;

·     Regularly educate staff on the importance of and expectations for using the vetting process for online services;

·     Incorporate student data privacy and security expectations into contract language and data-sharing agreements; and

·     Apply enforceable privacy and security standards to all business processes associated with student data.

 

 

"We congratulate Indian Hill Exempted Village School District on this achievement," said Keith Krueger, CEO, CoSN. "Progress in this area not only supports the responsible handling of student data, but it is also essential to reinforcing trust with students, families, and educators."

 

"At Indian Hill, protecting our students includes protecting their data. Earning the CoSN Trusted Learning Environment Mini Seal for Business Practice reflects the intentional systems we have built to rigorously vet every digital tool, strengthen staff understanding and accountability, and hold our partners to the highest standards for privacy and security," said Dr. Melissa Stewart, Superintendent, Indian Hill School District. "By embedding clear, enforceable expectations across our operations and partnerships, we are ensuring that student data is safeguarded in every environment where learning occurs."

 

Indian Hill's achievement also demonstrates Ohio's broader statewide focus on student data privacy. In November 2025, Ohio partnered with CoSN through the TLE State Partnership Program, which provides districts with unlimited free TLE Seal applications, exclusive state data privacy benchmarking reports, and resources and guidance to support improvements in privacy practices. Through the program, Indian Hill is one of nine districts in the state to earn a TLE Seal or Mini Seal. To date, TLE Seal recipients nationwide have improved privacy protections for over 1.4 million students.

 

The CoSN TLE Seal is the only privacy framework designed specifically for school systems. Earning the TLE Seal requires that school systems have taken measurable steps to implement, maintain, and improve organization-wide student data privacy practices. All TLE Seal recipients are required to demonstrate that improvement through a reapplication process every two years.