Poway Unified says web‑monitoring and Columbia screener flag concerning student searches; parents notified after screeners

Poway Unified officials described how a web‑monitoring tool and school screener help the district identify students who may be at risk and connect families to services.

"Every hour on the hour I get a report on what our students are looking up," said Cindy Hicks, Poway Unified’s emergency preparedness planning and prevention coordinator, describing the Content Keeper system the district uses to monitor searches on district devices.

Hicks said the system detects keywords and trigger phrases — for example, a search containing the word "gun" plus a phrase such as "how do I obtain an AK‑47" — and notifies school administrators to pull a student in for follow‑up. She said the district combines those signals with a Columbia suicide screener.

"It is not an assessment, an assessment is done by licensed therapist; it's a screener," Hicks said, describing the five‑question tool the district uses to identify students who should be referred to counseling and to notify parents. She said administrators receive a strongly worded notification and it is then up to families whether to pursue further services.

Hicks estimated the system flags roughly 100 to 125 mental‑health‑related searches per week and said some flagged searches reflect curiosity or transient interest, while others lead to substantive follow‑up. She urged parents to monitor device use and search history and warned that online videos and posts can include instructions about self‑harm.

District leaders and panelists said the program has enabled counselors to identify and connect some students to services who would otherwise have gone unnoticed. No changes to district policy or additional board actions were announced at the event.