All District-supplied student devices, both chromebooks and iPads, are configured with web filters in place. These filters, which are applied whether the device is used on campus or at home, are intended to keep students safe from harmful, inappropriate, and dangerous content when browsing the web.
However, some families have expressed a need to filter their students' web access more stringently than the filtering provided by the District. This page describes several options for filtering which go beyond what the District provides.
Please bear in mind that strict web filtering can create problems with many websites and applications; these problems can be subtle and difficult to troubleshoot, and may interfere with your student's ability to access the resources expected by their teacher.
For more information about the web filters configured on District-owned devices, please see the article Web Filtering & Internet Safety.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Additional Filtering on School Chromebooks
- Filtering on Your Home Network
- Filtering on Personal Chromebooks
Additional Filtering on School Chromebooks
You may apply additional web filtering rules to your student's District-supplied chromebook by installing an extension named "Block Site". This extension requires a somewhat involved configuration process; see this document for instructions:
Configure Block Site - a web filter extension for chromebooks
Filtering on Your Home Network
If you are interested in filtering your student's personal devices in addition to their school device, you might consider purchasing a filtering device or service for your home network instead.
For example, there is a device called Circle Home Plus which connects to your existing home network, and allows you to apply individualized filtering rules to each of the devices on your network. The Gryphon Guardian device appears to offer similar filtering capabilities, although it would expect to replace your home wifi router.
There are also services which can apply filters to an existing home network, although these may be more difficult to configure, and not offer the same level of control. Some examples include OpenDNS and SafeDNS.
Any of these would allow you to apply customized, stringent web filtering rules to your student's devices. Again, please bear in mind that any strict web filter is likely to cause problems with some websites and applications, and these problems can be very difficult to identify and resolve.
Filtering on Personal Chromebooks
If your student is using a personally owned Chromebook at home, you may be able to apply additional controls to their school (and personal) Google Accounts using Google for Families:
- Getting Started with Family Link
- Create a Google Account for your child
- Sign your child in on their Chromebook
- Add a school account for a Family Link user
Note: The above techniques only apply on personal devices, not school-owned chromebooks.
You may also want to read these Google Support articles about applying SafeSearch to your home network and personal devices.