The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), signed into law in December 2000, requires schools that use certain federal funds and E-rate discounts to have an Internet safety policy. Schools must also have in place a technology protection measure to shield adults and children from visual depictions that are obscene, contain child pornography or are harmful to minors.
However, the reality is that in today's society we must be much more than just CIPA compliant. With the rise of 1:1 programs in schools and the continual increase of student learning resources being accessed online, we must now take a broader view of student safety. In addition, in the last 10-15 years the proliferation of the social web has moved the student bullying venue to these social platforms and on the devices that students use each day. School violence can originate from social posts and students may be more prone to declare self-harm online through web-based channels. It is for this reason that Winchester Public Schools takes a broader approach to student safety and have implemented an assortment of tools and resources to help protect students and encourage student safety and wellbeing.
Securly Parent Portal
Adult involvement and supervision are key ingredients for keeping children safe in an online environment. To this end, we have selected Securly as our partner for not only filtering and monitoring Internet traffic, but also for providing a unique service -- the Securly Parent Portal -- to parents of students with 1:1 devices.
Gaggle Safety Management
We have partnered with Gaggle to provide a deeper level of student safety for students in grades 5-12. Gaggle Safety Management helps to keep our students safe on their WPS issued devices when using the GSuite for Education platform. This includes content analysis to reveal potentially harmful content in email, documents, images, shared files and more. Gaggle also provides expert review by trainied professionals 24/7/365. They are specifically trained to detect and deter potential student self-harm, bullying and other unsafe situations.
WPS Tip Line
On all school websites and our our GO WPS! mobile app we have an anonymous Tip Line to provide an easy to use online resource for anyone to submit a tip for a variety of different situations that will be promptly reviewed and addressed by the appropriate school personnel.
WPS recognizes the valuable role of technology in today's teaching and learning process. According to a 2015 study from the Pew Research Center, 92 percent of teens are online daily, and 24 percent of them describe their use as "almost constantly." In a Common Sense study, teens also report spending nine hours a day (with tweens ages 8–12 reporting six hours a day) using media and the internet — not including time spent on school work. WPS recognizes the importance of teaching digital citizenship and building a healthy school culture that includes responsible and thoughtful use of media and the internet among students and adults. However, inappropriate use of technology is an unfortunate reality in today's world, and effective measures must be taken to protect students while they are online. In order to address this, proper education, web filtering, student safety monitoring, and established policies - in addition to adult supervision - are crucial. At WPS our goal is for all students to receive internet safety and digital citizenship training, integrated in the division’s instructional program, grades K-12.