Customer Spotlight: The Country School

We sat down with Joe LaMacchia, Director of Technology, Security and Safety, at The Country School to learn more about their device policies and how they’re supplementing monitoring technology with education and training, using the new Connected Communities program from Bark.

Connected Communities offers on-site training, workshops, and skill-building activities for 4th and 5th graders that help students, parents, and educators develop confidence and competence in managing technology – especially around cell phone use and social media.

The following Q&A are excerpts from a conversation with Mr. LaMacchia, edited for brevity.

What is your device policy at The Country School?

We provide iPads for students in grades K-2. We have found that kids that age don’t need that much screen time, so distribution is not always 1:1, with devices being shared. Beginning in third grade, students receive Chromebooks in a 1:1 device policy.

The Country School uses Bark’s monitoring software for these devices.

Bark came to The Country School to deliver the Connected Communities program in the fall of 2025, executing a parent night, a teacher lunch session, and two days with students. How did it go?

We didn’t know exactly what to expect, but it far exceeded expectations if we were to have any. It was exactly what we needed. We couldn’t find any other platform who was doing something similar. It’s just really fantastic that Bark came up with this content. They’re getting in front of the conversations which we appreciated.

4th and 5th grade is a turning point when students are getting more inquisitive, and parents are wondering what they should do to navigate [online spaces]. This was a perfect program to start opening conversations, and to get 4th and 5th graders exposed to technologies and the vocabulary of them. 

It was a great meeting for the [teachers, too]: to learn more about what their students are diving into, whether they were previously aware or not. This is the world we live in. It was a great introduction for what is yet to come.

We received great feedback from students. One described the tone of the sessions as: “We just made a friend who was walking us through something in life.”

What did you hear from teachers?

The numbers were eye opening to teachers, seeing how many 4th and 5th graders had cell phones as well as the extent of problems coming from digital access, plus how easy it is to get lured into certain things or issues like suicidal ideation.

The content [students are] exposed to, and the access they have surprised them. We’re so filtered on campus, that appears to be the norm. It was a huge eye opener to faculty members.

How is Connected Communities different from other digital citizenship initiatives?

You’re taking a heavy topic, and bringing joy and optimism to it. That’s my favorite part of the program. 

What we’ve seen from other programs is don’t do this or this, or this will happen. This was a flip: we’re empowering you to make the right decisions, and you’ve got this. You’re going to make the right decisions because we’re showing you how to make them.

Hear from Joe:

• What did you think about the program?
• How is Connected Communities different than other programs out there?

Learn more about Connected Communities