Technology: Filtering Options

Additional Device Level Restrictions

Below are steps parents/guardians can take to filter the content their children can access outside the district (e.g., at home, at a friend’s house, at the library, etc.).

  • Go to settings on your child’s device

  • Select General

  • Scroll down to restrictions

  • Tap enable (you will be prompted for a password and can select any password to enable the restrictions)

  • Once you select a four-digit password and confirm it, you can scroll down to Websites and make the change to “Limit Adult Content”

Please note that keeping this setting enabled when your child is at school could impact his/her ability to complete assignments. For example, when we tested this setting outside our buildings, students in one class were unable to perform a search about Mexico for a project because this filter picked up news stories about drug trafficking between the country and the United States and automatically blocking all content.

There are other settings under restrictions that you also have the ability to change (the ones that are grayed out are locked in by the district and cannot be altered). However, as is the case with the “Limit Adult Content” setting, keeping these active while your child is in school may affect the functionality of his/her device.

District Filters
We have a number of filters currently in place, including SonicWall, OpenDNS and Google SafeSearch, that keep our students safe when they are using their devices on our network. We will continue to educate our students about online safety and the acceptable use of their devices.  

Home Network Filtering Options

There are a variety of resources that parents/guardians can use to create a more secure online learning environment at home. Below are links to guides and filtering information that are offered by several of the major residential Internet service providers.

Comcast Parental Controls Guide

AT&T Internet Filtering Information

Verizon Wireless Parental Control Setup (pages 37 to 43)

Verizon Wireless User’s Manual (pages 99 to 102)

These companies have customer service representatives who can help families set up additional safety measures on their home network.

In addition, OpenDNS offers a free filtering service that can help bolster existing parental controls. You can access information about setting up OpenDNS by going here. Please note that OpenDNS requires you to set up an account that you can use to manage the level of filtering on your entire network or on a specific device.

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