• Every student can have the necessary information "anytime" and "anywhere"
• Supports differentiation of instruction and personalized learning
• Provides a continuous interactive environment
• Allows for individual practice and extends learning
• Provides an opportunity for grade 8 students to prepare for the transition to the HS where it is BYOD without having to expend money on a device
Students will have orientation lessons on how to use the Chromebooks. Students will also be involved in lessons regarding the Acceptable Use Agreement and digital citizenship.
Specific guidelines and expectations can be found at the following links
Students will have a Chromebook assigned to them in the same way textbooks are assigned.
All Chromebooks will be handed out with covers that must remain on the Chromebooks at all times.
Students must maintain the Chromebook and cover as they do textbooks and return them at the end of the year.
If a student’s Chromebook is not working, they can drop their assigned Chromebook off at the library and exchange it for a working one.
Yes. They will be expected to bring their assigned Chromebook home every night to charge.
Students can use the Chromebooks at home by connecting to their family's wireless network. Students will access the Internet by connecting to the wireless at home. The school settings and filtering will continue on the Chromebook at home.
Students must take the Chromebook home each night for charging. We do not have secure charging available for every student at school.
No, students can use their family devices at home and use their families filtering.
Students will access the Internet by connecting to the wireless at home. The device will be filtered by the school's filtering product as well as any filtering the family may have set up on a home firewall/router.
The school devices have filtering on them with the school settings. Students cannot uninstall this filtering, it is a forced install. Students can always use a family owned computer while at home and use the filtering software and settings of the family's choosing.
No, each student must use their school account to login. The Chromebook settings are locked and cannot be altered.
It depends on the program they want to access. If it is blocked at school, no. If anything has to be downloaded or added to the machine, students will not be able to access the program. If the program only requires a browser window and it is not blocked at school, yes.
Our general philosophy for web filtering is summarized below:
The educational benefit of the Internet outweighs its potential for harm, and access to it should be as open as possible after taking into account Federal law, age appropriateness of the user, network security, and District administrative policy.
More specifically:
For all users, we block content as required under Federal law (i.e., CIPA), as well as content identified by the filtering services to be dangerous to our users/IT infrastructure (e.g., phishing websites or websites disseminating viruses or other malware)
Web filtering is less restrictive as the student age increases - thus the elementary level is the most restrictive while high school level the least.
Categories which are vague or subjective (e.g., "Discrimination") are allowed when age-appropriate.
Categories which have moral or political dimensions (e.g., "Sex Education") are allowed when age-appropriate.
Web filtering is performed by using two levels of granularity:
Categories - Included in our filtering system. Both vendor staff and AI technology categorize websites throughout the world.
URL Filtering - URL filtering enables us to allow or block a website by its address or URL. This can be used to override categorical filtering for a website, or to block a website which is not yet categorized.
http://bms.westportps.org/general/acceptable-use-policy or https://cms.westportps.org/general/acceptable-use-policy
Do I have to use the Chromebook at home?
No. Students can use a family device at home and just charge the school device.
No, the settings on the Chromebook won't allow students to add anything of their own to it.
No, it is always fun to decorate and make something your own, but the district must continue to service the machines and we must keep them all standard looking.
Before you get a Chromebook a sticker with your name, grade, and homeroom will be placed on the bottom.
There are more and more types of software that we push out through the Chromebooks that are needed by your teachers for class. These software applications are not available for download or they do not work the same on your own device. We need to make sure that what you bring to class has everything needed.
No, the settings on the Chromebook won't allow you to log on with any account other than your school Google account.
Ask you teacher for the best time to take your Chromebook to the library media center. Once there, turn it in to the library para. You will be given a loaner.
You can use any machine at home. If your device stops working at home, switch over to a family device. When you arrive at school, take your Chromebook to the library media center and turn it in to the library para. You will be given a loaner.