The school has introduced a new blocker on students’ personal devices to improve online safety and reduce distractions during school hours. This software blocks access to non-educational content, helping students stay focused on their work. Although some students may find it inconvenient, the school emphasizes that the blocker is important for creating a more productive and safe learning environment.
We reached out to the tech team who helped set up this new blocker, and they provided a couple of quotes that will help us understand why they put this in place.
“This rule has always been in place as a safeguard for our network. Anything that is not district-owned is not allowed on any of our main networks because we have no control over whether those devices have the latest security updates or antivirus software installed. Any device we don’t control the security of is only allowed on guest or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) networks, which have extra security layers. These networks can only access the internet through our network; they cannot communicate with other devices as an extra safety measure.”
“Students at one or more schools were able to get the passphrase for a wireless network that we do not allow personal devices to connect to, and they were sharing it with each other. This led to unsecured devices being on a part of our network that doesn’t have as many protections for this kind of threat, which is a serious security concern.”
“The main benefit of enforcing this rule is keeping our security strong. Ransomware and other cyber attacks are targeting schools more each year, and the cost of recovering from one of these attacks can be millions of dollars. In our opinion, following these rules is necessary. The only downside is that a student’s personal device may be banned from the network, but the district provides a Chromebook for all students, which will continue to work even if personal devices are blocked. Students can keep working using the district-provided Chromebooks.”
In conclusion, we now have more information about why the new blocker was set up in the schools. Hopefully, we can resolve this issue soon.
