I have a question for my readers.
How does your school handle permission to use the Internet? Do parents have to opt-in by signing a permission slip? Is Internet use an assumed right for students, even if behind a firewall?
Or do parents have the right to block their children from using the Internet even at school, even in courses where the use of Net tools is assumed or expected?
Since we are a “laptop school” starting in grade 6, parents know that students will use the Internet and our e-mail system on a regular basis.
In regard to blocking content, we do have a firewall here at school that actually works fairly well, and we encourage parents to put parameters around laptop use at home. We also just ordered 200 of these booklets for free from the FTC:
[ http://bulkorder.ftc.gov/search.php?search_term=Net%20Cetera ]
Called “Netcetera: Chatting with kids about being online,” it is easily the best, most practical booklet of its type that I’ve ever seen.