The tech committee is a good start, but a better bet would be to run for a seat on the school board. I’ll bet this is board adopted policy.

And, if your district, like ours, uses models of policies produced by the state school board association, you might visit with that group as well.

Doug

Many school district AUPs are old and should be revised to reflect current use, expectations and technologies. I recommended to my School Board that we review our AUP/RUP annually and revise as needed.

Dr. Anderson also has a blog at http://nctpcast.blogspot.com/ – worth checking out.

In our district the AUP bans the use of computers and networks for anything that’s not “school system business” or that doesn’t “promote the instructional mission”.

I can see instructional uses for YouTube, social networking, chat, and games. Our principals, the people responsible for interpreting and enforcing the AUP, often can’t. As a result, students at some schools have access to resources that students at other schools don’t. Some schools block Google Image Search, Delicious, and Blogger.

Earlier this week a principal asked me if there was a way he could block RSS feeds! Some days I wish our AUP was more specific.

However, I want to add to this! Hayden’s response pushed me back a little to think about my responses to most things in technology. I am immediate in my response to say that there is so much blocking best practices in technology for kids in school. Fortunately, I have easy access to bypass a lot of items that are blocked at school, and our teachers are given a lot of access as well. BUT, there is still a level of frustration. Anything with the word, blog, is blocked and by the time, I type in my bypass info 6-7 times to read through my feeds, I get annoyed. I keep wondering when and if this can change, and how do I help assist to change these blockers of progress. This isn’t about me having to type in bypass info. This is about teachers having to do it and on 20+ laptops in a classroom if she wants to take her students to a site that might be blocked. She can’t give the bypass info to the kids to type in, so it really is a frustrating and legitimate struggle for our teachers. Yes, he or she can have items unblocked, but even that can be a laborious process.

Thanks for listening.

My first point would be somewhat critical – since when is any particular site reflective of inappropriate behavior? This is plain improper wording (at least) and/or really misguided practice. The heart of the issue in the wording of the AUP is mixing behavior/actions with actual content – total mismatch.

I think Scott is right to carefully read and to protest, but am afraid his complaint will go unnoticed in a stack of hundreds. Someone else needs to hear this in the school district (technology team is a good start – call the director if impatient with the process).

Lastly, as to how this is complicated.

Filters are not very sophisticated. They were designed when the web was pretty black-and-white in terms of content. If you blocked the Penthouse as a site, one could feel somewhat comfortable that the entire Penthouse site was probably not a great site for students or staff to use.

Today, blocking Youtube really throws out everything good with the content which really is questionable. Some of which can be pulled up with little or no intent in search results and some of the ways in which Youtube determines what videos are similar to the ones you are watching.

No filter deals with differentiation of Youtube content, so if you want to keep the “good” and you must accept “the bad”. Please understand I do not believe it is so easy to call content “good” and “bad”, but I am using it for simplicity sake.

So, the question is, how is this handled from a school or district level perspective? It is not as easy as some will make it sound. If you have had significant influence on the policies and practices of filtering, or been on the bad end of either angry parents or angry staff, you’ll know what I mean.

For every person who says, “How can you block x, y, or z” there is an equal and opposite person asking how you can possibly allow kids to see x, y, or z. (OK, I am oversimplifying it again).

Most districts don’t land at the extremes (although I know of two in my state, one that filters nothing, and one that allows only approved categories – these are not the norm). The question is where in the middle do you land, using what philosophies, criteria, input, and decision-making, and then how do you work to make sure it is flexible and understood?

I am by no means defending the district’s policy. However, they must enforce the policy that the Board of Education has approved. This is where your challenge needs to go. Most Boards of education reserve time at every meeting for public comments. You MUST voice this concern to the Board. If they are unaware of any public objection, it will go untouched by them until someone in the district brings the policy up for review.