What OLSH is doing to keep students safe online at school

photo of two OLSH students looking at ipad

Protecting children online has become an important topic for parents. And it’s an important topic for schools, too. OLSH has partnered with SecURLy, The Student Safety Company, to put safeguards in place while students access the internet at OLSH and while using OLSH email accounts. Mrs. Patricia Krueger, OLSH Director of Technology, initiated the partnership as a proactive way for our school to address student safety online.

SecURLy’s content filter serves as a profile based content filter, allowing for reporting by user id and is linked to student (and employee) gmail accounts. The filter has the ability to monitor student activity to be proactive in noticing trends in search history and sites visited. Additionally, secURLy offers an anonymous tipline that can be used by students or parents to report bullying or other issues or concerns. The tipline and content monitoring are managed by secURLy professionals who have been trained about what to look for and will notify the school of any flagged behavior. SecURLy has products available for parent use, as well. More information on those products will be shared with OLSH families.

photo of OLSH student looking at cell phone

Another way that schools can protect children online is by following good student data privacy practices. All OLSH faculty and staff participated in training from CommonSense Media on protecting student data in the classroom, including vetting websites in advance of using them in the classroom and limiting use of sites that collect student data.

Online safety also has to do with practicing good digital citizenship. All students at OLSH are enrolled in Technology & Online Information Literacy (TOIL) class as freshmen. This course reviews proper usage of technology and ways to be a good digital citizen. Students at OLSH can also learn more about good digital citizenship in the Tisch Family Library, where Mrs. Bethany Cvitkovic has created various displays of information encouraging students to do what is right when they are online.

photo of OLSH student using cell phone in class

Practicing internet safety is important in today’s world, but when parents and schools work together to be proactive, students can be protected. Talk to you children about their online activity, know what data they have shared on social media and other sites and apps, and encourage them to talk to you when they see something they aren’t comfortable with online. SecURLy and Common Sense Media both have resources on their websites that are available to parents on the topic of online safety if you want to learn more.

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