A Tech Too Far? School district’s internet policies spark debate among students about restricting access

Lifestyle

By Mia Shu

This article is one of the winning submissions from the New York Post Scholars Contest, presented by Command Education.

Whether it’s protecting students from dangerous websites, preventing access to sites students want, or impacting Wi-Fi connectivity, the school district’s internet policies play a significant role in the lives of Jericho High School students. 

Since the beginning of quarantine, Cisco Umbrella, a cloud-delivered security service that automatically updates in list form every day by the company, has been installed to protect students from certain content while learning remotely. However, its basic filtering doesn’t alert the school to content that may include violence, pornographic material, cyberbullying or hacking. 

In order to improve this situation, Jericho’s Technology Department decided to use GoGuardian, a more secure filtering system that functions with Cisco Umbrella. 

“We are responsible for providing a filtered experience for students,” Director of Educational Technology Dr. Patrick Fogarty says. 

Despite the good intentions of keeping students safe online, many are unhappy with GoGuardian. In response to a JerEcho survey, 87.6% of respondents reported that a website they wanted to access was blocked by GoGuardian. 

“Not only does it block things the school doesn’t want us to go on, it blocks other sites we use for research too, so it nullifies what we need for school,” says freshman Ethan Y. 

Senior Marudhini M. feels similarly about the negative effects of GoGuardian. She says, “It’s a good thing for teachers and administrators, but for students, it only blocks the websites that you’re trying to go onto while in school.” 

Teachers disagree and feel that certain types of sites must be blocked so students can be protected. Forensics teacher Ms. Cancemi says, “As frustrating as the blocking can be, since we’re in a district with so many beliefs, so many age levels and emotional levels, they have to make it safe for all students.”  

There are four different networks available for students to use: Jericho-BYOD, Jericho Guest, Jericho Wireless and Jericho-BYOD-Chromebook. For the sake of students’ safety and education, all these connections were set to block out the access of certain apps or not allow certain websites to load. 

Tests in 15 locations were conducted by the Technology Department to check on the speed of the Wi-Fi around the school. According to the experiment, over 150 megabytes were processed within the building, indicating that people within the school have great accessibility to the internet. On the other hand, the results that came from the track area outside were low in speed, implying that students would experience a decrease in connectivity quality when they are outside of the building. 

Three separate ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are used in the school’s network so that the Wi-Fi connection doesn’t get disrupted if one ISP goes down. This also limits the access of outsiders’ control and protects our system from threats such as ransomware. 

Many students would much rather use a VPN to secure their privacy when using public connections. When used at school, a VPN allows students to access sites blocked by GoGuardian. “I use it every day, even on the bus before I step on school grounds,” says senior Shan L. 

The JerEcho conducted a survey to measure how often students use a VPN at school. The results showed that on a scale from one to five, 62.8% of students responded at or above average. 

“In my opinion, a VPN provides protection and helps me to get through things faster,” Shan L says. 

However, Dr. Fogarty explains that installing a VPN may be putting students at risk, “The reason you can’t have it here is because they [the school’s Wi-Fi] protect your traffic from people who are prying us.” 

He adds, “My department is making sure you don’t go on websites, download something and then infect the network.” 

It is this delicate balance of individual privacy and public safety that is at the heart of the tension between some users’ feelings about Jericho’s internet and the technology department’s goals.

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A 10th-grader at Jericho High School in Jericho NY, Shu would like to pursue a career in health care.