Families
Internet Safety
In the age of information, there is an abundance of resources regarding the power of media and online safety for students. We have gleaned through many resources to provide you a short yet high quality list to help support our families.
These tools aid parents with making choices around media, setting up guidelines, networking together and include topics to spark rich, age appropriate, conversations with your students.
Just remember, you are the greatest resource in helping your student navigate through life, online or otherwise. Keeping conversations open, honest and frequent.
The links on this page have specific information related to the age of your student, but here are a few tips that can apply to us all.
Top Online Tips for families
Keep the computer in a high-traffic area of your home. You after all are the best filter and when students know their parents are monitoring, they are less likely to be engaged in risky behavior.
Explore together. Unless you know the sites and apps your students are using, it is hard to know what guidelines to set. Explore their online world with them, you may even pickup some of their slang. That doesn't however mean posting all over the pages, be careful to tread lightly to keep communication open.
Create guidelines and limits together. Help them look with a critical eye to be sure sites are safe and they are not sharing personal information or engaging with strangers. Even when communicating with friends there can be pitfalls. Once words or photos are shared online, they can't be taken back. Students should be selective with words and photos regarding themselves and when they engage with others. CSD Best Practices Handout, including Family Screen Time Agreements (Created for our Screenagers Viewing & Parent Night)
Model your online behavior. Keep the conversations open and share your experiences online. Point out emails that seem like a scam and what alerted you. See something questionable online? Let students learn from those gray areas as they learn from you about intentional choices.
Remember that the positive aspects of going online outweigh the negatives. Online tools provide excellent educational and recreational resources. While there are safety concerns we need to be aware of, there are also millions of positive opportunities to learn, create, explore and collaborate.
Family Resources & Internet Safety:
Parenting wired kids can be difficult, especially if you didn't grow up with the same technologies. These resources can help.
Common Sense Media provides fantastic resources for parents of children who are growing up in a digital age. The site features comprehensive reviews and ratings on apps, TV shows, movies, games, books, websites, and more. An explanation of the rating system used by parents can be found here. Their parent blog addresses a wide variety of issues facing families and offers practical advice on how to raise digitally responsible children.
If you are looking for a place to start, and want to establish expectations regarding your child’s school-issued device, try this Customizable Device Contract or the Common Sense Media K-12 Family Media Agreements.
Excellent resources for parents are available from Cyberwise.org. Cyberwise is an online resource dedicated to helping parents understand how they can encourage their children to use digital media safely and responsibly. Are you keeping up? Take the Cyberwise New Media Quiz to test your knowledge of the latest digital tools!
More great resources:
Web Filters by Camas School District
The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires schools to provide internet content filtering on all on-campus computers.
In addition, the Camas School District has elected to utilize a filtering system on off campus Chromebooks through a service called GoGuardian, which is FERPA compliant.
While filtering software continues to improve, the best filter is adult guidance. It is best practice to have students work in communal areas at home and at school. Find out more in from the links above.
Web Filtering at Home
Looking for a way to filter at home?
You might want to use a free program such as OpenDNS.
There are also hardware options, such as Disney's Circle, which pairs with your home Wi-Fi and lets you manage every connected device on your network.
Many internet providers, such as Xfinity offer parenting controls at home.
A nice feature with these options is they can manage every device in the home, even cellphones.
Google Apps for Education
All staff and students have Google Apps for Education Accounts. This is very different from a standard Gmail account.
In addition to having unlimited free storage for every user, our web history is turned off for all users, "safe search" policies are enforced while browsing, and students will never see advertisements on our Google Apps services (Drive, Calendar, Blogger, Mail, Sites, Google+). Overall, we believe it's a more safe and secure user experience than a free Gmail account. To find out more about the products and student safety, click here.
Student Email
All students have Google Apps for Education Accounts (first.last@csd117.org). In addition to these logins allowing access to the Google online Classroom and the student's files, students have email accounts. All student accounts are restricted in both sending and receiving mail only from staff and students in our district. This functionality has allowed for better communication on group projects, as well as for teachers to easily email grades and feedback on work. These emails are monitored, archived and accessible by our tech department as needed.
WiFi @ Home
Unlike a standard laptop, Chromebooks are dependent on WiFi access for full functionality. These devices will be able to connect to home networks as well as networks provided by businesses. Regardless of who is providing the WiFi access, the devices offer web filtering at home and school.
If WiFi access is not available at home there are a couple of options.
Choose the "offline" option for specific files. This takes some planning, as it must be done in advance, while WiFi access is available. Files can be worked on while no WiFi access is available, and will sync once back on the internet. This option also works when students want to work on the bus, on a road trip, or other times when WiFi access is not an option. For information on how to use the "offline" mode, click here.
Other options are available for families that qualify for free or reduced lunches-See links below
Free WiFi spots are available in the City of Camas @ the Camas Public Library & many local coffee shops, restaurants, & stores.
What if my student's Chromebook breaks?
Annual Assurance Program
The Annual Chromebook Assurance Program is optional and provides an inexpensive solution for families to lessen the financial burden if an accident or theft occurs. While the insurance is not mandatory it is recommended. See form below for details.
Am I able to bring my own device?
Yes, you are able to bring your own devices, although we advise against it. In our experience, parents that have gone this route have reverted back to the Chromebooks for a few reasons.
Chromebooks are managed by the school district. This has several positive impacts:
Chromebooks are filtered at both home and school as well as any other Wi-Fi they may connect to.
The district can push software to devices remotely as well as block apps and extensions from being installed.
Counselors are alerted when there are searches related to self-harm or other risky behaviors
Students are limited to their school Google account, meaning they can't login to a personal Google account (with the exception of juniors and seniors) to email or share files with persons outside of our district.
When all students have the same device, it is easier for teachers & students:
For district managed devices, teachers can monitor all student screens at once, as well as lock them out of specific sites, which is helpful for testing.
Assignments and software would be consistent for all students. For example, an iPad would be very difficult to use for most students, as there is no keyboard and Chrome extensions and add-ons used in the classroom will not work. While a MacBook can run Chrome, it is different than the Chrome operating system and some apps, extensions and features are not compatible.
When paid apps are involved, we are only able to add these to district devices. .
Loss and theft might also be something to consider.
We have an assurance program for $20. Should a student device be lost or stolen, they can quickly get a replacement for $75. We are also able to place devices into "Lost Mode" remotely, that will let us see where it is, who logged into it and lock it down so only staff and students from Camas can login.
For state testing, a district managed Chromebook must be used, as it needs to meet specific criteria and go into a special mode.