Imagine that your parents could see what you are doing on your computer. All the YouTube videos, google searches, and gaming websites. Well, imagine no more!
You may be familiar with Lightspeed, the internet content filtering service. It’s what blocks all those websites that distract students. But let’s face it, it doesn’t block all of them. So another service the company offers is a weekly Parent Report that will provide a list of the top sites a student visits each week.
“The internet can be incredibly helpful,” said Longfellow’s Principal Jim Patrick, “and at the same time it can be dangerous if we don’t use it appropriately.”
According to Dr. Patrick, the Parent Report, which also shows how many pages you visited during the week, is a safety measure.
“The big picture is, it’s all about safety,” he stressed. “We are giving you these devices. We are expecting you to be responsible. It’s a way for parents to know what is going on, on your computers.”
It isn’t automatic though, parents need to sign up for the weekly report. However, it should be noted that the school has the ability to monitor any computer on its network whether or not your parents subscribe. Whatever you are doing could be seen by the safety team.
“I think that all students should be aware that computers are property of FCPS and everything that you do on those computers and on our network is potentially going to be seen by our safety team, if necessary,” explained Dr. Patrick. “Nobody sees you all the time,” he added.
For that reason, it is good to know what is considered acceptable on a school computer. If you weren’t aware already, the Acceptable Use Policy for computers can be found in the SR&R, and the teachers in LS4 went over it at the beginning of the school year. The short version is that you should only be using them for sanctioned schoolwork,
Students Charlie H.nd Garda B. both had mixed feelings when they learned about the program. Though they guessed that top sites would include Schoology and SIS, they conceded that a game or YouTube site might creep into the mix on occasion.
Charlie felt that knowing his parents were receiving information on his browser might keep him on task, but was a little worried that things could be misinterpreted without context. For instance, YouTube might have legitimate information and even videos students are required to watch. Garda, on the other hand, wasn’t too concerned. He thinks most parents don’t really care as long as their kid does okay in school.
The Parent Report mainly shows parents the websites their child visits most frequently, and when. It can show whether a student is doing their work on time or whether they are playing a game. So, basically, it shows when you are on your computer, what you are doing on it, and how long you are on it. Dr. Patrick believes that parents appreciate having access to the information.
“I have some parents say they wish there were more details in the report, but I do know that we have shared this information with parents and they generally found it helpful,” said Dr. Patrick.
Parents who want more details can also sign up for the free Internet Use Parent Portal. The FCPS web page for Lightspeed simply says that parents will see “a little more detail about their child’s internet browsing,” but also adds that they can “pause” access to the internet during non-school hours on their FCPS devices.
While some students might have a problem with this type of monitoring, it is a definite reminder that anything we do on the internet can easily be made public.
