Monitoring school computers

An Indiana high school biology teacher was fired for storing hundreds of photographs of nude or partially clad young women on a school computer.

An Iowa superintendent resigned after being accused of using school computers for gambling and accessing sexually explicit material on the Internet.

Those are just two such incidents of computer misuse in the nation's school systems over the past several years.

Since 2001, America's school districts have been required under the federal Internet Protection Act to have strict computer use policies and use software programs that block access to pornographic and obscene material.

"Any school that receives federal funds has to have certain safeguards in place," said Deborah Sutton, director of instructional technology for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Missouri lawmakers passed a similar state law in 2003, she said.

But computer filters don't prevent all misuse. "Nothing is foolproof," she said.

Two teachers in one Southeast Missouri school district resigned last year. Rumors circulated among some parents that the teachers may have used school computers to access pornographic and gambling Internet sites. School officials would only say that the two teachers resigned, citing the confidentiality of personnel records.

Area school officials say they do their best to monitor computer use. Employees and students must sign Internet usage agreements that spell out proper use of school computers.

Most school districts in the state, including the Cape Gir-ardeau, Jackson and Scott City school districts, model their computer policies after one drawn up by the Missouri School Boards' Association. The model policy prohibits accessing, viewing or disseminating information on school computers that is pornographic, obscene or vulgar, or advertises any product or service not permitted to minors.

"You have to have guidelines and those sorts of things," said Jackson superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson. "It is all pretty much alike."

Rare occurrence

Cape Girardeau public schools superintendent Dr. David Scala said school officials have the computer technology to monitor the use of individual computers by students or employees when warranted.

Scala said misuse of computers by employees is rare in school districts. "I haven't had it happen here," he said.

While state and federal laws require filters on computers to block inappropriate use by students, local school officials said such filters typically block access to obscene and pornographic material on all school computers whether they are used by students or staff.

"Our filtering system works for all our computers," said Scott City superintendent Diann Bradshaw-Ulmer. "We have limited access."

Like other districts, Scott City's computer technology allows school officials to monitor the use of computers. "We can go back and track what has been going on," she said.

Every year, a few students misuse school computers. In such cases, students lose their computer privileges.

Jackson High School principal Rick McClard said the school district has software on its network of computers that blocks the viewing of a number of sites. Teachers also can monitor student use of computers, he said.

Missouri School Boards' Association officials in Columbia say they get few calls from school districts about employees misusing computers. Kelli Hopkins, a lawyer and director of education policies for the school boards' association, said school districts report more misuse of computers by students than staff.

School administrators, she said, continue to try to prevent the misuse of school computers. Keeping up with ever-advancing technology can be difficult, Hopkins said.

"They are quite concerned with the rapid pace with which technology and communication is advancing," she said.

So-called "backdoors" to Web sites allow users to access obscene sites from a seemingly acceptable site, Hopkins said.

Filters are a helpful tool in preventing inappropriate use of school computers, she said. But Hopkins said they aren't a substitute for educating people about the proper use of school computers and supervising such use.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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