As part of state and federal requirements under the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA), all computers and network connected devices must be content filtering.  This content filtering is designed to block not just inappropriate content but also block malicious websites and make efforts to  prevent individuals from circumventing the content filtering.


It is important to note that Staff has more access to the internet than students.  Ergo, a site that a staff member can get to may still come up as blocked for students.  If student access to a site is critical to a lesson, please submit a ticket to the Technology Office to have the site checked.  Even if a site worked last year, updates to the content filtering from our filtering provider may block a site today.


It is also important to understand that the Technology Office does not pick the sites to block or unblock.  We have chosen general categories and the list of sites that are blocked are handled by a service provider.  Nevertheless, we can at any time block or unblock a site if need be by request.  Please also understand that when a site is unblocked for students, it is unblocked for all students throughout the district.  If a request to unblock a site is received and another request is made to block that same site from a different teacher, the issue will be brought to the administration to decide whether or not the site should be made available.


How Our Internet Filtering Works

There are three methods that are used to filter what students can and can't do online:

  • Top Level Domain blocking - Sites that end in various extensions, for example that end in .games and .toys, will be completely blocked.
  • URL blocking - Any website can have it's entire URL blocked, for example badwebsite.com, www.badwebsite.com, and really.badwebsite.com, will all be blocked.
  • Content Filtering - The words that make up the text on the site are analyzed as well and, if enough keywords are present, may trigger the Content Filtering mechanism to block the website as well.

It's for this reason that we ask you to provide the exact message a student receives when a website is being blocked, as it'll help us identify why the site was blocked and the best course of action to take to unblock it.


YouTube Filtering

YouTube content filtering is actually handled by Google, not our content filtering appliance.  We still have the ability to approve or block videos at the request of staff, but accessing it is a bit trickier.  Just like a website, though, if you need access to a video that is blocked, please submit a ticket to the Technology Office.  You can learn more about how YouTube filters videos by visiting this article here.