Schools protect students from Internet through rules, firewalls

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
Dec. 06, 2007

Students at Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sioux City have rules to follow when they use the Internet at school.

Bishop Heelan Catholic School in Sioux City has the same rules and regulations for all of the schools in the system.

"One of the pieces that we have in place is a firewall," said Cindy Spenner, educational technology coordinator for BHCS. "That is state mandated for all educational buildings in Iowa. We use our firewall to filter and block specific sites."

Sites that contain profanity or nudity are automatically blocked, so when students attempt to go to a site like that - intentionally or accidentally - it comes up and says it is blocked.

"Things can get through. Web site creators are really good at getting around things like that," said Spenner. "Children have been given instructions that if something comes up accidentally, they right away click out of it and report it to their teacher."

The teachers are also asked to preview sites that a student is going to go to. On Google, there is a way to set up restrictions when the students are doing a search for a class. The teachers and students have been made aware of how to do this.

"As much as you can protect them, we are," said Spenner. "All students have individual user names so their activity on a computer can be tracked. We need to let them know that computers are a great tool and a great resource, but as with everything it is to be used appropriately."

At Gehlen Catholic in Le Mars, students and parents have a form they have to sign at the start of each school year that states the specifics of computer use.

"Basically, if it is not educational, they are not supposed to be using it during school time," said Lori Schuch, the technology coordinator at Gehlen.

One of the librarians, Pat Beitelspacher, mentioned that monitoring the use of the Internet is important because there are many sources out there that are inappropriate.

The students are able to use the Internet for e-mail before and after school, but are not allowed to go into chat rooms. There are eight computers in the library that the students have access to as well as a computer lab with 16 available computers.

"The teachers can sign up to use the lab, but that is a supervised activity," said Schuch. "The students can use the computers in the library when they have study hall, but the librarians keep an eye out during that time as to what they are using."

They, like most schools, have a firewall set up to block Web sites containing inappropriate content.

At Emmetsburg Catholic, they also have a firewall to help protect students from certain sites, noted Jean Hyslop, principal.

"If they (students) get on sites that are inappropriate, they lose Internet privileges," she said. "It is important because children don't know the ramifications of getting on-line and that people aren't always honest. They can use the computer to mask who they really are and what they really want."

The Internet is used for research and other educational purposes at Emmetsburg Catholic.

In the handbook at Sacred Heart School in Spencer, there is an Internet policy for students to follow. Students and parents also sign an agreement, stating the students will use the Internet properly.

"If they don't (follow the rules), they get one strike," said Ron Olberding, principal at Sacred Heart. "They will lose that privilege. There is a filter on the computers, but the most important thing is the kids are always supervised when they are using the Internet. That is our plan."

He explained that it is important to make sure the students are doing what they are supposed to be doing on the computers.

According to Tom Strickland, technology coordinator at St. Edmond School in Fort Dodge, the students are only allowed to use the Internet for research. They also have a firewall set up to help protect the students from inappropriate material.

He commented that it is important to protect the students from "all the bad things on the Internet."

Kuemper Catholic School in Carroll has training for students in fourth and fifth grade as well as for students in sixth through eighth grade on the Internet.

Parents attend an informational session when their students enter high school, explained Mary Trent, technology integration specialist at Kuemper.

"We also have a filtering system set up that blocks inappropriate Web sites," she said.

Access to the Internet is a relatively new thing at Danbury Catholic. In first through fourth grade, the teacher will access the Web site they want the student to use before the student even sits down at the computer.

"Our Internet services are used for academic purposes on educational sites," said Kristy Liechti, principal. "It is kind of limiting and controlling, but it is a safe way."

The computers the students have access to are right in each classroom so the teacher is close by to monitor computer activity.

The other schools in the diocese also have rules and regulations for computer and Internet use.