Kids Online in Schools

Safe Internet Use in Schools

The best way for schools to get parents involved is to let them know what’s going on. Every survey I have done with parents tells us the same thing: No parents know what’s going on at their child’s school with the Internet, and many parents don’t know what the Internet is or how it works. Yet every school laments the fact that the parents aren’t more involved, and parents complain that they’re not included. (What we have here is a “failure to communicate.”)

Getting Parents Up to Speed and on Board

So the simplest way to get parents involved is by letting them know what’s going on (I call that the “notice rule”), getting their consent to anything that has increased risks (I call this the “informed consent rule”), and educating them so they can be a part of the decision making and the solution.

Notice and Informed Consent

Schools need to tell parents how they are using the Internet at school, what the risks are, and how they are managing the risks. The notice has to be clear and complete, and lay out all the important information in a way even the most computer-illiterate parent can understand. And it should be included in the acceptable-use policy the school prepares and hands out to students and parents.

Whether they filter or not, every school should have an acceptable-use policy, which is a list of the rules pursuant to which children (and others) are permitted to use the Internet. Some school systems like to formalize the process, making it school board policy, with all the formalities that entails (notice, hearings, etc.). Others adopt it on a school-by-school basis as they do most rules, such as no running in the hall, and no smoking on school grounds. But however they do it, every school needs one.
Given all the controversies about safe schools and how schools use the Internet, I am amazed to find how many schools haven’t yet adopted acceptable-use policies. I recently spoke before a group of principals from one of the largest cities in the United States. I was shocked when they told me that they had been considering adopting acceptable-use policies for almost two years but hadn’t yet done it. That’s when schools face legal liability. Waiting two years to set rules about what kids can and can’t do online? Why? Once they understand the risks, schools should move quickly to set safety rules and get the parents informed. If the formal process is taking too long, create an informal one, and get the notice out to parents and students.

There’s no magic to creating an acceptable-use policy. I’ve been doing them for years for major corporations, and schools are the same. And, although we cyberspace lawyers hope you will hire us to help us feed our children and pay their college tuitions, you don’t even need a lawyer. But the policy does need to tell parents and kids how the Internet is being used and what the rules are, as clearly as possible, as well as what happens if anyone breaks the rules.

Setting the Framework

Here’s what should be determined in setting the policy and in disclosing it in an acceptable-use policy:

• How is the Internet used at school? Is it in the library only, library/media/tech center only? In the classroom?
• Who supervises Internet use?
• What are the special rules for use at each location?
• What are the risks? Chain e-mails? Chatting? E-mail? Instant messaging? Accessing inappropriate sites? Giving out personal information online? Posting nasty things about others? Copyright infringement? Piracy? Hype and misinformation? Threats of violence? Bomb threats? Doing things that cost money?
• Are filtering software or filtering services used? How do they work? What are the risks of overblocking (innocent sites being blocked) or underblocking (inappropriate sites getting through)? What can be done if a student needs to access a site that is blocked? Are there override mechanisms? Can the site lists be modified to allow a school to add an innocent site to the allowed lists or an inappropriate site to the blocked lists?
• What’s the rule about downloading materials? Have the students been warned of the risks of viruses and the seriousness of hacking?
• Are school directories, with telephone numbers and student and parent names, posted on the school website? What about class rosters? School team members and the schedules for games, etc.?
• Can students be disciplined for posting defamatory or provocative information about the school or school personnel on personal websites composed outside of school? (Schools can do this only if they relate to school safety or discipline, unless the students and parents agree otherwise in the policy.) What are the guidelines?
• Is the school posting personal information about the student on a website? Do they post student e-mail addresses? Do they post student photographs? Individually or in groups? Are the students identified in those photographs? How are they identified?
• Is the school partnering with third parties on online content and programs? If so, are these programs making personal information about students under the age of thirteen available to these third parties? If they are, parental consent (not just school consent) is required before the information is provided to third parties.
• What information is collected about students’ Internet activities? To whom is it disclosed? Is it available to parents upon request?
• Is the school posting student works on a website? Is there a student chatboard or e-mail system? Can students sign up for Web-based chat?
• What happens if the students break the rules? Will there be a warning? Suspension? Check the school disciplinary process on due process and procedural issues.
• Once the school knows what the entire system looks like, it should describe it to the students and to the parents. (Remember that the parents may not all understand what the school is talking about, so using familiar terms and not a lot of cyber and techie terms is most effective.) Tell the students what they are allowed to do and what they aren’t. Let them know the consequences of disobeying the rules. Then explain the risks and get the parents’ okay.

Explaining the School’s Choices

If the school chooses not to filter, explain this in simple terms. Tell the parents and students why the school decided against filtering, and how it came up with a safety plan that it believes will be effective. For example:

Monroe Middle School has one of the best technology centers in Middletown. Mrs. Richards, Monroe’s library media specialist, has just finished her review of available filtering products. She has concluded that they may block more sites than necessary and yet many inappropriate sites get through, and therefore she has set up a special system just for Monroe.
Starting this fall, Mrs. Richards will be teaching a class on online safety, and the social studies classes will be working on a safe-surfing site project and compiling online safety tips. We believe that, given the size of our student body and the number of supervisory personnel at Monroe Elementary School, a combination of online safety education and close supervision of the students online fits our needs best.

In addition, each student will be given an acceptable-use policy that tells them what they are permitted to do and what they are not permitted to do on the school’s computer system. This acceptable-use policy will be sent home with each student, and must be reviewed by the student’s parents. Mrs. Richards will be available to answer any of the students’ or parents’ questions and has also posted a list of frequently asked questions and their answers at the school website. Before a student may be allowed to use the Internet, Mrs. Richards must have a signed consent form back from the parents. The consent form also acknowledges that the parents are responsible for their child’s online behavior both at home and at school.

If the school decides to filter:

Monroe Middle School has one of the best technology centers in Middletown. Mrs. Richards, Monroe’s library media specialist, has just finished her review of available filtering products. She has concluded that Tough Filter is the best filtering system for our needs. Tough Filter has been selected by five thousand middle schools in our state alone, and is one of the most well respected filtering products, having been out on the school market since 1996. We have reviewed effectiveness studies done by Tough Filter and have concluded that it does a better job of filtering hate and violent content and other content that we deem inappropriate for our students than other competing products.

But, as satisfied as we are about our selection of filtering software, you should know that all filtering software may block innocent sites and allow some inappropriate sites to get through. That’s why we want to make sure that our students understand online risks and learn how to use the Internet effectively and safely. Starting this fall, Mrs. Richards will be teaching a class on online safety, and the social studies classes will be working on a safe-surfing site project and safety tips. We believe that, given the size of our student body and the number of supervisory personnel at Monroe Elementary School, filtering is an important part of our online safety plan and will be used in conjunction with online safety education and close supervision of the students online.

In addition, each student will be given an acceptable-use policy that tells them what they are permitted to do and what they are not permitted to do on the school’s computer system. These acceptable-use policies will be sent home with each student, and must be reviewed by the student’s parents. Mrs. Richards will be available to answer any of the students’ or parents’ questions and has also posted a list of frequently asked questions and their answers at the school website. Before a student may be allowed to use the Internet, Mrs. Richards must have a signed consent form back from the parents. This form also acknowledges that the parents are responsible for their child’s online behavior both at home and at school.

If parents are informed, they can decide what risks are appropriate for their children and consent to those risks. If schools merely send home a consent form without the requisite disclosure, that consent form isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. All consents, to be effective, have to be fully informed consents. Besides, if a child ends up spending millions at an auction site, schools want the parents, not the school, to be responsible. That’s another reason schools should want the acceptable-use policy signed by the parents.

And if the parents won’t sign the form, the school should make sure the child doesn’t have school Internet access. Otherwise, the school faces potential liability.

Let the Parents Decide

Parents, armed with sufficient accurate information, are the best ones to make decisions about their children’s safety. Is there a dispute over when a child’s photograph can be posted at the school’s website? Let the parents decide. Tell them what the controversy is—some parents and students want the fame and attention, while others are worried that this could fuel a pedophile’s attempts to contact the children. Lay out all the risks. And give the parents the choice.

If the school wants to make sure it is absolved of the risks and claims relating to those risks, a waiver alone isn’t sufficient, since students themselves have claims that cannot be waived by the parents. An indemnification from the parent is the only way the school can make sure it is covered. However, when parents agree to indemnify and hold the school harmless from any such claims, the parents have to bear the risks of their child suing after reaching the age of majority—as long as the school fully disclosed the risks to the parents. For example:

We are very proud of our students. And we often celebrate their academic successes and sporting wins by publicizing their photos and stories of their feats in our school newspaper. These are often also covered by our community newspapers. It is a natural transition to post these same articles and photos on our school website.

But many online safety experts have warned against posting minors’ photos online. They believe that certain people could use this information to locate and perhaps hurt your child offline. They indicate that the posting of this information on the Web is different from posting it in a school newspaper or the community newspapers, largely because the Internet is composed of more than 84 million people in the United States alone, far more than the number of readers of the school newspaper or community newspapers. They also point out that the people who might abuse this information may not be local neighbors who are concerned about the well-being of children in our community, but strangers who have no ties to the community.

Yet, to date, law enforcement tells us that they have not traced any offline molestation or abductions to a school website’s disclosure of information about their students. That’s why we have decided to leave the choice up to the parents. While our school policy will be that our students may be shown only in group photos, identifying the group and not individually identifying the students by name, parents may give written consent to having their child’s photo and name posted at the site when the photo and name appear in the school’s newspaper. We will make this consent form available to the students upon request. Parents need to make sure that they understand the risks involved and are bearing responsibility for any adverse consequences of that decision. The consent form will provide that parents waive all risks and indemnify the school and the school board from any claims relating to having posted the photo and name.

We also want to hear from parents about this and other Internet-related issues. Please call Mrs. Richards with any questions, or log on to the school’s website at ___________. Our school is very special as a result of our close working relationship with our parents and community. We will face these exciting and challenging times together.

Build a Solid Team of Parents, Friends, Librarians, and Schools

As more and more schools and libraries are getting online, teachers and librarians are getting wired, too. (No, that doesn’t mean that they are doing anything they shouldn’t be doing—it means that they’re getting online.) They’re a great resource for parents. They have a chance to get to know our kids and our neighbors’ kids, know what they’re doing when you’re not looking, and know what wonderful resources there are online.

Ask them to set up a program to try to get parents involved. Do what you can to help; they deserve our support and admiration. (I’ve said it before—librarians are our most underestimated natural resource. And I’ve been lucky enough to know some really sensational ones.) You should also check out the American Library Association’s website (www.ala.org). It’s a wealth of resources and tips. For example, the ALA features a great site called KidsConnect (), which is run by the American Association of School Librarians, a division of the ALA. Through e-mail submitted at the site, kids can send inquiries to the librarians online, and within a couple days get help in locating resources that respond to their inquiries. The kids are then referred to their school library media specialist.

If you want help, after you’ve finished this book and have had a chance to surf around for a while, you may be able to contribute meaningfully to the plans to get your schools and libraries online. Share the wealth. Let them know what you’ve learned and let them teach you what they know. Look over the school’s proposed acceptable-use policies and see if there’s something you can suggest to improve them. Volunteer to help teach other parents and share resources and sites you’ve found. Share keywords (the words used in sites you want to filter or block) that you’ve discovered if they use filtering software. The only way we can truly protect our children in cyberspace is to build a solid team of parents, friends, librarians, and schools.

Team-Building Tips

Here are a few tips to think about when you’re looking for places to help and build teams:

• What are other kids accessing?
• How much do other parents know about the Internet?
• What kinds of use policies have been set up?
• Coordinate with other parents, and agree on a common policy for when your children are computing at friends’ houses.
• Enforce the joint policy with other parents and respect their values.
• Share new ideas and family website finds with others.
• Are other parents using filtering software or tools? If so, what software are they using?
• How can you get the best out of the software they chose?
• Plan a few community projects, like a cyber–scavenger hunt.
• Use your library’s tech resources.
• Make sure your librarian and library media specialist are important parts of the team.

The best acceptable-use policies I have found come from libraries, and the “cream of the crop” seem to come from school libraries. Check with your school librarian or library media specialist and see what they’re using.

Stay Tuned for the Following Editorial Message...

I get e-mail from teachers all the time. They want me to recommend course materials and classroom resources on online safety. They want my opinion on Web-filtering products, closed-systems services, and their acceptable-use policies. But, most significantly, they want to know what liability they face, personally, if kids get into trouble online while under their supervision.
How sad that teachers—who are already overworked, underpaid, and without adequate support from us parents—feel they face legal liability for information our children might access. How schools are dealing with the whole Internet access issue might be at the core of this fear. Keeping our children safe requires a team effort. Schools, libraries, and parents have to join forces if we are going to make sure that all children will be safe and get the full benefit of the Internet. But many schools are either ignoring the problem, thinking that filtering software alone is the solution, or are making decisions behind closed doors. This is a community issue, and everyone has to take part and understand what the schools are doing online.

When teachers face twenty-five to thirty children in their class, and someone now installs one computer in the back of the room, what are they supposed to do? Who will be training them? How is the computer supposed to be used—for recess or for learning? When the computer goes down, how are they supposed to fix it? (Most are now relying on talented “techie” students to repair the computers and debug the software.)

The answers won’t come all at once, and there is no single set of answers for all classrooms and schools. Arriving at them will take time, patience, and flexibility on the part of educators and parents alike. Schools have to sit down with parents and teachers and design a program that works for them. Teachers should be able to sleep at night without worrying that irate parents will try to sue them for what their children do online. (However, I just learned that more than one lawsuit has been commenced against a school system for that very reason.)

As a cyberspace lawyer, I see more than my share of adversarial situations. Let’s make sure that our teachers are not afraid to use this wonderful technology. Let’s support them so they can lead our children into the next millennium. To help in this effort, Wired Kids (www.wiredkids.org) will be designing a new area just for schools and teachers, where we will discuss acceptable-use policies and the legal issues involved.

I welcome ideas and comments from teachers. I want to make sure that we show our support for all the hard work they do, and to thank them for all they’ve done for our children. I especially welcome anyone who wants to join us as a volunteer in the Wired Kids project. I’ll be heading it up. We’ll also be looking for model acceptable-use policies. We’ll use them as examples, good and bad. You can contact me at .