One of the most challenging aspects of educational technology management is walking the fine line between protecting students and ensuring access to academic, creative, and communications resources. As a department, we receive hundreds of requests per year to block – and to unblock – specific websites, online services, and sometimes whole categories of online content.

In order to address the very real concerns – on both sides, in most cases – related to internet content filtering, the Office of Technology & Innovation adopted a process several years ago that relies upon a basic set of rules and representative input as it relates to content filtering decisions within the district. You can read the full policy here, or read on for a summary.

How the Process Works

When a teacher or administrator submits an allow/block request, the district determines whether the site/service fits cleanly into an allow/block category per the content filtering policy, and if it does, immediately implements the request. If the request falls into a gray area, the request follows the process outlined in the policy – you can click the flowchart image to see details – which routs the request through a committee review process, with the potential for temporary action to be taken if the request has a potential student safety impact. Once the committee has considered the request and made a recommendation, Office of Technology & Innovation staff implement any necessary changes within our content filtering services.