Technology Tips and Tricks

Why Are Websites Blocked

By: Russell                                                                                                                      

Many times we travel the websites, and always find websites that are blocked. Whether it's games, research, or anything else, many websites are blocked. Most students don’t know why this is, but some kids have their guesses, here are a few student opinions. 7th grader Patrick Byrne says, “because students lose focus mid class, and teachers do not want them on games.”  6th grader Hugo Weingart thinks, “websites are blocked because of Securely.” Well the eighth grader I messaged has not responded, so no opinion from an eighth grader. I also interviewed staff of the school and district tech teams, for the true reasons. Mr. Hummel is the Chief Technology Officer. One reason they block sites is because some sites are unstable, and could have viruses that expose your chromebook to data leaks. Students have realized a lot more sites have been blocked recently, because more unstable sites have popped up. Mrs. Battaglia, who is the Director of Instructional Technology, says that websites must be filtered with the rules of CIPA, which protects people from websites that are inappropriate or bad. Our very own Mrs. Olson mentioned that teachers can make requests for websites to be blocked, or unblocked. If a teacher sees something bad that a student is on, they can fill out a form for the website to be blocked. The form is seen by the district tech team, who decides if the website should be blocked. The same process can be used for teachers to unblock websites. In closing, that is why websites are blocked.