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District 59 considers at-home parental controls and classroom monitoring tools; staff testing alternatives
Summary
Administrators presented an at-home filtering option that would allow families to view and manage a student’s online activity for $24,215 a year, and said some teachers are testing Securly’s classroom tool as a possible replacement or complement to Hapara.
District technology staff briefed the Community Consolidated School District 59 Board of Education on May 7 about an optional at-home filtering and parental-control service and about classroom screen-monitoring tools.
Staff said the at-home filtering option under consideration would cost $24,215 per year and would let families view a student’s online activity, block sites or categories, pause Internet access and set schedules. The district reported it surveyed families; the feature cited as most-interesting to parents was the ability to view a child’s online activity and receive daily or weekly activity reports.
Administrators also said some staff are testing Securly’s classroom-management tool, which includes features similar to the district’s current classroom screen manager (Hapara). Staff said Securly’s interface may resolve some of the functionality issues teachers reported with Hapara; staff members who regularly use the classroom-management tool were testing Securly and providing feedback.
Board members requested that parent-facing tutorials and multilingual resources be available if the district adopts the service, and some asked that the technology department offer on-site or evening training sessions for families who need help using the parental controls. Staff said the vendor provides short tutorials and that the district would explore additional training and multilingual materials prior to rollout.
No final purchase motion was recorded for the at-home filtering option at the May 7 meeting; staff said they would provide further cost comparisons and teacher feedback for future consideration.
