Family Media Agreements

Introducing devices at home can lead to some tricky situations. While we believe in the potential for technology to empower students to act creatively and positively in a changing world, students will often question boundaries, especially when they are not clear. We encourage you to write or re-write a family media agreement in which you:

• Establish clear expectations for when and where devices can be used
• Outline what the appropriate uses of technology are in your household
• Create rules that apply to the whole family, not just your children

Click here to be guided through the steps for making a family media agreement

Frequently Asked Questions

• How is the school working with students to protect their individual privacy and identity?

In the Middle School we discuss concepts like digital citizenship, healthy use of social media, and practices that enhance privacy online in advisory and grade-level lessons. We recommend that parents/guardians learn about privacy and security situations that students may encounter and set clear agreements to mitigate these concerns, too.

• How is the school ensuring that students are using their devices for learning during school hours?

Teachers set clear expectations for learning objectives and research goals. That said, students will sometimes need guidance and reminders when working online. While we don’t actively monitor students' use of software, teachers are expected to actively survey how students use devices in their classes and work with them to stay on task and focused. Parents and students will have take on a greater role in monitoring online behaviors during this remote learning period.

• Are website visits being monitored in any way?

We have a system that logs all internet traffic. We do not actively monitor this, but will pull reports for individual students or websites if requested by the Division Director.

• Are certain websites blocked?

At school, yes. We block numerous categories of websites entirely on campus. We also block multiple subcategories including, but not limited to, gambling, marijuana, nudity, adult materials, pornography, weapons sales, hunting and war games, freeware and software downloads, peer-to-peer file sharing and games. We also apply Application Controls to block Games, Peer-to-Peer, Proxy and Unknown applications.

At home, no. We encourage you to investigate the parental controls on your networks, some of which you can learn more about from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) by contacting them directly:

• Comcast
• Century Link
• Wave Broadband

There is no full-proof method of limiting a determined student from finding ways to manipulate, hack, or find workarounds to your network controls. We strongly believe that having a family media agreement in place is the most effective mechanism of establishing enforceable agreements in your household. That said, we are here to partner with you and will do our best to support you and your students.

• Is there printing available at school?

Yes. Students are able to print from their devices at over a dozen different printers here at school.

• What are the general guidelines about installing software?

6th and 7th grade students are not administrators of their devices. Older students are administrators and are able to download software of their choice. We set the important rule that in school students are only permitted to download educational software.

• What are the things kids should not do on school laptops?

We encourage students to use their school-issued devices for educational purposes. If we find that they are gaming or using the devices in another manner, we will have a conversation, take the device temporarily, or contact the parents, depending on the frequency and nature of the misuse.

• What is the device policy of the school?

The Middle School Mobile Device Policy is part of the Responsible Use Agreement that each student must sign. Unless a middle school student has explicit permission after asking "may I" to a supervising faculty member, Middle School students should have their mobile devices powered off and in their bags throughout the school day.

In the Upper School, there is also a Responsible Use Agreement, but it does not fully restrict the use of mobile devices at school.