Updates to Alumni Use of Google Services
March 1, 2024
Summary
For several reasons, Pinewood American International School has decided to phase out alumni access to Google services under the school’s domain. This action will begin May 2024 and end June 2024. The following update has been added to the Parent/Student Handbook:
“Email accounts that remain inactive for more than a year, and following an additional reminder of two months, are permanently deleted.”
Alumni emails and accouts are defined as student emails managed by the school domain @pinewood-school.gr (or @pinewood.gr) that are still in use after the student’s departure from the school.
Full Description
For years, Pinewood has allowed alumni to access Google services such as Gmail (pinewood-school.gr) and Google Drive managed and maintained by the school’s domain. This access was not widely used, thus the school has decided to terminate alumni acounts to its Google services starting in May 2024 up to June of 2024 according to usage quota for now based on security reasons and space issues.
The phase-out will begin on May 1st, 2024 with the final stage occurring on June 1st, 2024.
The IT department shall send some targeted emails to alumni and carry out the account removal in two month time.
Why is the school phasing out access to alumni Google services?
Pinewood decisions consider the best interests of all stakeholders, including alumni. Reasons include:
- Alumni email usage drops sharply after the first post-graduation year.
- Inactive alumni accounts are more vulnerable to attacks, draining Pinewood Information Security resources.
- Google now charges for some previously free education services, creating unsustainable costs for unused alumni accounts.
How do I transfer my data?
No alumni data will remain after the removal of accounts, but you can download or transfer Google data to your personal accounts. Click the steps below for more details.
First, check storage, enable auto-reply, and forward alumni email:
- Remove unnecessary files before migrating data since consumer Google accounts only offer 15 GB of storage. Fewer files allow faster transfers.
- Turn on Auto Reply in your alumni account.
- Enable automatic forwarding to your personal account.
Second, choose one or both options:
- Migrate Gmail and Drive data to another Google account.
- Download all account data for long-term storage or use with other services.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you use your account your access is guaranteed. Student email accounts which are inactive for 1 year will be deleted.
Accounts that have been idle for 1 year will be disabled within 60 days of notice. These notices will be sent out in group waves.
Submit an alumni extension request to potentially restore your account for 14 extra days, if feasible. Please note, some accounts and data may be irretrievable. We apologize in advanced for any inconvenience.
Follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Google account
- Select “Security” in the left menu
- Scroll to “Signing in to other sites”
- Click “Signing in with Google”