Filtering Guidelines

While the District respects the privacy of its staff and students, and while the District currently does not have a practice of monitoring or reviewing electronic information, the District reserves the right to do so for any reason. The District may monitor and review the information in order to analyze the use of systems or compliance with policies, conduct audits, review performance, obtain information, or for other reasons. The District reserves the right to disclose any electronic message to law enforcement officials, and under some circumstances, may be required to disclose information to law enforcement officials, the public, or other third parties; for example, such disclosure may be required in response to a request made in a lawsuit involving the District or by a third party against the user or pursuant to a public records disclosure request.

Filtering software is used to block or filter access to visual depictions that are obscene and all child pornography in accordance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Other objectionable material are also filtered. The determination of what constitutes “other objectionable” material is a local decision determined by the District.  You can access our acceptable use policy here that has several areas explaining acceptable network use in addition to filtering.

• Filtering software is not 100 percent effective. While filters make it more difficult for objectionable material to be received or accessed, filters are not a solution in themselves. Every user must take responsibility for his/her use of the network and Internet and avoid objectionable sites
• Any attempts to defeat or bypass the District’s Internet filter or conceal Internet activity are prohibited (e.g., proxies, https, special ports, modifications to District browser settings and any other techniques designed to evade filtering or enable the publication of inappropriate content)
• Email inconsistent with the educational and research mission of the District will be considered SPAM and could be blocked from entering District email boxes
• The District will provide appropriate adult supervision of Internet use while users are on site and digital supervision of internet use while users are off-site. The first line of defense in controlling access by minors to inappropriate material on the Internet is deliberate and consistent monitoring of student access
• Staff members who supervise students or have occasion to observe student use of technology, must make a reasonable effort to monitor use and assure that student use conforms to the mission and goals of the District
• Staff must make a reasonable effort to become familiar with current technology and to monitor, instruct and assist effectively.

Listed below are the blocked categories of information that we will make every effort to block from our students and staff.  Not all filtering is done for objecctionable content. Some is done to maintain a secure network and yet other areas are filtered to comply with other legal or licensing requirements.

The table above represents our settings in general, but there may be sites blocked/allowed on a case by case basis as determined by the district network administrator and technology director.  Every attempt will be made to allow for flexibilty as teachers use sites for student learning.  If staff needs to use a site that is blocked with students, that site will be evaluated for acceptable content and impact on the safety and security of all involved. Our systems have a way to notify our technology staff when anyone on a district device runs into a blocked page.  Please allow at least 24 hours for the site to be reviewed and either opened up or maintained its blocked status.