Keeping Our Students Safe Online
GERRY DAWSON, TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR
T
he District has implemented several technology
upgrades and enhancements to support personalized
learning for our students this school year. As we
invested in a full-time, one-to-one technology
program (one student per device) for grades 5 through 12,
students were assigned a Chromebook in which they are
responsible for its use and care not only during the school
day but also at home. It is considered another school-issued,
educational resource, just like a textbook. With the focus on
anytime, anywhere learning, keeping our students safe while
online is a critical issue. To reinforce our commitment to student
safety, the district adheres to multiple layers of learning,
software, and procedures to protect our students online.
•
Each student in the district is educated on responsible
and safe online behavior through Common Sense Media
Curriculum K-12. Students participate in programs that
reinforce online safety and security, anti-bullying, ethical
behavior and etiquette using today’s communication
platforms.
•
Student Internet activity is filtered for appropriate
content 24 hours a day, no matter where in the world
they may be. All searches and visited websites are logged
and the technology department can easily produce a
very comprehensive report on demand for teachers and
administrators.
•
Teachers have the ability to view the screens of the
students in their classroom in real-time. With this very
effective classroom management tool called Hipara,
the teacher no longer has to continually walk around
the room and try to catch students who may be
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straying away from the task at hand. Instead, they see
all activity at a glance and can easily redirect students
when necessary or provide immediate feedback and
personalized notes.
•
Another vital component to our online student safety
program is the ability to track student email such as
monitoring, filtering, reporting and file storage. This
email tracking service (Safe Mail??) also runs 24 hours
a day regardless of location. A proprietary algorithm
scours all email files, including images, looking for
inappropriate content. It assigns a score to anything
it deems inappropriate and performs an action based
upon that score. For example, foul language found in a
student’s document may only trigger a warning to the
student, but repeated offenses may trigger an email
to an administrator. If the software finds something
more serious, such as an image with nudity, bullying,
indications of self-harm or threat to others, the vendor
has a trained staff working 24 hours a day as a Human
Monitoring Service that will determine if there may be
the potential for a serious and/or imminent situation. If
the Human Monitoring Service determines that there
is a possible student situation, they will email, text,
and, for the most serious concerns, call our district
administrators. They will also contact local authorities
directly if warranted.
Despite all of the precautions and safety measures that the
district takes, technology is not fullproof. We encourage parents
to visit CommonSense Media.org and partner with us to provide
a safe online learning experience.