Keeping Students Safe Online

As the Internet becomes more and more part of our daily lives, the need to educate young people about how to be good digital citizens and be aware of potential dangers becomes more important. In this month's Safety Connect, learn about how our district is working to keep our students safe and how families can help us in this effort.

When it comes to keeping students safe online on their school-issued Chromebooks, the Chehalis School District uses a program called Linewize, which monitors students' activity on their Chromebooks. This program looks for student activity online in categories such as self-harm, depression, explicit material, bullying and school violence. Depending on the activity, the program breaks the student's use into 5 different threat levels with 1 being low risk and 5 being the most serious risk.

District administration is notified in the instance of threat levels 3-5. Security & Safety Officers Troy Thornburg and Todd Thornburg speak with students about some of these instances while District Mental Health Counselor Brian Adams makes contact with others.

"Parents, for the most part, are unaware of what their kids are doing on their Chromebooks. They're on their Chromebooks at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and they're not doing homework and the parents don't find out until they get a call from us," Adams said.

Adams said the district's Technology department can block or flag sites but that often, students find a way around those safeguards. He said parents can help the district keep students safe online by getting their student's Chromebook password and conducting a periodic history search the same way they should be doing for students' cell phones.

As part of our continuous conversations about how we can best support our students’ academic success as well as their physical and mental well-being, starting Monday, Jan. 29, the Chehalis School District will be limiting access to student Chromebook use during the following hours:

• 10 PM to 5 AM for kindergarten through 8th grade
• 1 AM to 5 AM for grades 9-12

Linewize data shows that when students are using their school-issued Chromebooks during the above hours, they are most often not using them for educational purposes. The district is also aware that some students need to be able to access homework and other school curriculum from home and that students who have after school obligations such as work, sports and activities may need to be able to work on their Chromebooks late at night.

It is hoped that the new limits to Chromebook access hours will:

1. Promote Healthy Sleep: The CDC recommends 10-13 hours of sleep for kids up to age 5, 9-12 hours of sleep for ages 6-12 and 8-10 hours of sleep for ages 13-18. Sleep plays a critical role in the overall health and well-being of our students. By limiting Chromebook use during hours our students should typically be sleeping, we hope to encourage them to develop good sleeping habits.
2. Encourage Responsible Technology Use: The 2021 Washington Healthy Youth Survey indicated 18.1% of Washington 10th graders were at risk of developing problematic Internet use. By establishing boundaries for Chromebook access, we aim to foster responsible technology habits among our students that include knowing when to turn off their screens.
3. Enforce Clear Internet Expectations: Students and Families are given clear Internet use expectations in student handbooks and in school board policies, however, Linewize is showing us there is Internet use among our students that violates these policies. By limiting access on school-issued computers, we hope to encourage our students to use these tools for their intended educational purposes.

Want to know more about how to help your student become a good digital citizen? Here are some helpful links:

Cyber Safety Cop - Online resource offers helpful articles and information for parents

Cyberbullying and Digital Internet Safety - A publication from OSPI

Family Media Plan - Provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics, this tool can help families create a media plan based on the values that are most important to them

Family Online Safety Institute - This non-profit offers information for kids and parents about online safety topics

GetNetWise.org - A resource from the Internet Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by public interest groups, corporations, and associations representative of the diversity of the Internet community

National Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health - Evidence-based education and technical assistance to support the mental health of children and adolescents as they navigate social media

NetSmartz - Resources from the National Centers for Missing and Exploited Children for parents and age-appropriate lessons for students aimed specifically at the topic of online exploitation

Parent Guides - Guidebooks on apps, service and platforms popular with youth published by the nonprofit Connect Safely

Most of us have heard about Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, but the apps that are popular with kids are always changing. It's important that parents educate themselves about what their students are using. Here are a few popular apps you may not have heard about yet:

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