By Shauna Lund, Iron County School District
Iron County School District has one of the most robust programs of content filtering on student computers, members of the Board of Education learned Tuesday night.
Board Member Tyrel Eddy asked to discuss internet access on student Chromebooks after he was made aware of graphic images on Amazon that were viewed by two elementary-aged students. Specifically, he said, he wanted to know what filtering programs were being used and how they were being used. He also asked for a report of how many times such material is accessed.
Instructional Technology Director Troy Lunt said there are many pieces to keeping the network and student computers secure. The district uses a Palo Alto firewall, which is one of the highest rated in the nation, to keep adult content off student computers. The district also uses content filters — many of those are provided by the state. For instance, when the devices are at home, Content Keeper, helps filter inappropriate content.
“We are part of a group that meets regularly to say ‘how are we doing everything we can to take care of security and inappropriate or appropriate access to content,’ ” Lunt said.
The Amazon access occurred because “shopping” content was not on the list of website types that should be blocked. Once it was brought to the district’s attention, those were blocked.
As the district blocks certain content, it must also consider the different levels of students. There are filtering levels specific to each age group — elementary, middle and high school.
Superintendent Dr. Lance Hatch agreed that access to inappropriate content should never happen in school or on a school device. He commended the technology department for the hard work they do behind the scenes, especially as the target is constantly changing. He said the district will continue to look at ways to protect children while they are using technology.
“This is a point of pride for us, that we protect kids online … we have the top of the line (filtering),” Hatch said. “We want to do it right and we want to do it in a way that works for everybody.”
Other board members said they also recognized parent responsibility in teaching students to use technology appropriately. Board Member Megen Ralphs admitted to not reading the Responsible Use agreement carefully as she signed it every year for her student.
Hatch said more information will be gathered and brought back to the board.