No Facebook Allowed on District 219 Computers

Students at and High Schools might be using wireless technology in all kinds of ways during their classes, but some doors will remain closed, at least for the time being.

Facebook and other social networking sites are blocked on networks, meaning students who are logged into school computers or are using their school-issued netbooks in the class can’t check their friend requests, update their status or post goofy pictures and comments.

Unless, of course, they are carrying a smartphone or other personal device that can connect to the Internet without going through the district’s network. Students are permitted to use their phones and other devices when they are not in class – for instance, at lunch or during passing periods.

Earlier:

That’s because the main reason the district blocks social networking sites is not because of the distractions they might cause or because of the potential for inappropriate communication, but because they would take up too much bandwidth.

“We’re operating at about 90 percent of our bandwidth now,” said Guy Ballard, chief technology officer for the district. The district’s cyber-highway is so jammed that he is looking into expanding the bandwidth in the next three months or so, Ballard said at the Oct. 24 school board meeting.

“If you want, we could revisit the issue then,” he said.

The bandwidth will have to be expanded in the near future as the district’s netbook program grows school year, when incoming freshmen were given netbooks loaded with software to use in school. This year, freshman and sophomores have the small computers, and next year, it will be freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

When the program started, the district decided to disable social networking sites.

But school board president Robert Silverman said the district might want to consider allowing students to use them for some purposes. Clubs could set up Facebook pages, he suggested, or philanthropic groups could use it as a fundraising tool.

“I think there could be educationally valid uses for social media,” he said.

The discussion came up when the school board was reviewing a new policy on a related topic: staff use of personal technology and social media. Among other things, that policy calls for staff to communicate with students using school supported platforms, such as their school email accounts, whenever possible and forbids them from posting inappropriate material on Internet sites that are accessible to students, even if they do so outside of school.

Like us on Facebook