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Parents urge stricter Chromebook filters and a Lightspeed parent portal pilot
Summary
Multiple parents at the public-comment period urged tighter controls on Chromebooks and YouTube access; one parent recommended a parent-moderation pilot for the district’s Lightspeed filter and another proposed student-reported outcome pilots to measure effects of screen-time changes.
Several parents used the public-comment period to press the district for tighter Chromebook content controls and for tools to involve parents in moderation.
Esther, a parent of a second grader, said children ‘‘are not doing what they ought to be doing on their Chromebooks’’ and urged the board to "consider the safest and more conservative restrictions to YouTube specifically and on the Internet in general." Meg Volz, a teacher and new parent to the district, encouraged rolling back screen time for reward periods and said some neighboring districts have returned to cart-only Chromebook models for certain grade levels.
Daniel Lyons, who identified himself as working in IT, told the board he discovered Batavia uses Lightspeed for filtering and that Lightspeed appears to offer a parent portal, but he could not find registration instructions. He urged the district to pilot a parent moderation group and tighter, granular controls to reduce AI-generated or otherwise inappropriate content appearing in students' browsing or YouTube histories. "I'd like to see that public pilot group if we can," Lyons said. Emily Palmer suggested piloting a short student-reported outcome survey to gauge classroom engagement before and after any curriculum or screen-time changes.
District staff and board members acknowledged the complexity of content filtering and suggested follow-up with staff to explore parent portal registration and moderation options.
