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Board delays approval of Carlsbad Unified technology plan after parents cite Chromebook access to explicit content
Summary
After a public comment describing students accessing sexually explicit content on school Chromebooks, trustees asked staff to return the 2024–27 technology strategic plan with clearer firewall, filtering and supervision measures; the plan was not approved as written.
President Rawlings opened discussion of the district's proposed three‑year technology strategic plan for 2024'27 and turned the item over to Dr. Rob Knight, who asked the board to approve the plan that staff had previously discussed in August.
During public comment, parent Bonnie Miles told trustees students were using school‑issued Chromebooks at school to access inappropriate YouTube videos, unblocked gaming sites and AI tools that produced explicit content. Miles said attempts to resolve the problem with district staff had been unsuccessful and asked, "what steps are going to be taken to improve the filtering of these Chromebooks?" She urged the board to enforce the district's acceptable use agreement and to restrict Chromebook use during unsupervised times.
Staff described multiple layers of protection. The district uses the iBoss cloud filter, a monitoring system called Bark that alerts administrators to attempted access of inappropriate sites, and a progressive discipline approach when students violate the acceptable use policy. A staff speaker said administrators and the director of technology routinely adjust filters, but noted that some outside sites use meta tags or other measures that can cause inappropriate material to pass through filters.
Trustees pressed for clearer language and stronger protections in the plan. Trustee Ward and others asked whether the technology plan addresses firewalls and filtering at recess and lunch. Dr. Knight said the published plan did not detail firewalls and that staff would need to follow up with the director of technology about site‑level practice.
President Rawlings said she would not support the plan as written and asked staff to incorporate explicit protections into the strategic plan. "I would like part of the plan to be better firewalls, better protections for students when they're using technology," she said. Trustees asked staff to return the plan with two linked elements: (1) improved filtering/firewall language and (2) a supervision plan describing how sites will monitor Chromebook use during unsupervised times. Staff agreed to investigate site practices and report back.
No final vote to adopt the 2024'27 technology strategic plan was taken that evening; the board directed staff to revise the document and bring back a version that explicitly addresses both technology protections and site supervision.
What happens next: Staff will follow up with the director of technology on available filtering technologies, research whether additional firewalls are feasible, and report on how individual sites supervise Chromebook use at lunch and recess. Trustees asked that those findings be incorporated into the technology plan before the board considers formal adoption.
