NORTH BERWICK, Maine — A group of students sit in math class on a typical high school day. The teacher writes algebraic equations on the blackboard, explaining each variable as she goes along. While some students are sitting at their desks, laptops closed and listening intently to the lesson, others are busily engaged with their computer screens — pupils wide and fingers tapping on the condensed keyboard. Some are playing games, while others download movies, chat on Facebook or even view pornography — all on the school’s Internet network. At the end of class, the students delete their laptop history.
This scenario is what Cheryl Hunter and her high school daughter are asserting occurs every day at Noble High School as students use their school-provided laptops for nonacademic ventures. With school officials and administrators remaining relatively mum on the possible security and safety issues that could arise from this type of activity, Cheryl is wondering who is monitoring the children and even if school administrators have the capability to oversee the entire middle and high school populations. Fifty-five percent of public high schools, 1 private high school and 100 percent of middle schools in the state of Maine get laptops from the school district as part of the state’s laptop initiative.
Cheryl first became aware of students using their school laptops for nonacademic activities a couple of weeks ago when her youngest adopted daughter, “Carly” (not her real name. Foster’s is protecting her privacy) informed her that Cheryl’s older adopted daughter, “Vanessa,” (also not her real name. Foster’s is protecting her privacy) had been making videos of herself and her friends and uploading them to YouTube.com — all on her school laptop. Carly showed Cheryl Vanessa’s YouTube page, where more than 50 videos had been uploaded.
While the content of many of the video’s shocked Cheryl, the location of where some of the video’s were shot — in and around the Noble High School building — surprised and frustrated herl even more. Under the subtitle “fun, flirty and outgoing,” Vanessa, a senior at Noble at the time, had been able to film, edit and upload these videos on the school’s Internet network during the schoolday.
While some of the videos were seemingly innocent, (one was a prank call and one was a rendition of Taylor Swift song with Carly and Vanessa singing), some of the videos went beyond the innocent. In one video, Vanessa performs what she calls the “booty dance” where she places her feet on a hallway wall and shakes the bottom half of her body for the computer camera. In another video, which has since been taken down, Vanessa allegedly flashed her phone number and address for the Internet world to view.
Cheryl claims she brought the laptop to Noble High School to present the videos to school officials. Cheryl said she played the videos but school administrators said nothing but “ahhh” and brushed off the issue. According to Carly, school administrators said they have stepped up security, but kids in her classes seem to still be doing the same thing as before Cheryl met with the dean. While a few students have been talked to about their inappropriate use of school laptops, no known disciplinary action has been taken against them, according to Carly.
Cheryl claims she monitors her children’s use of the computer while they are home, including not allowing Carly to go on the Internet unless she’s monitoring the activity. Cheryl said kids can get “sneaky” especially when it comes to contacting people they are not supposed to contact. Cheryl’s two daughters were adopted with court orders set in place to disallow communication between them and their biological parents. According to Cheryl, Vanessa was not only uploading videos to YouTube.com but researching the location and contact information for her biological mother. When Cheryl found out about the videos, Vanessa, who was 18 and legally an adult, left Noble and went to live with her biological mother — all because she was able to use her school computer to discover her mother’s location, Cheryl asserts.
Carly said while on the school’s network, many sites and some actions on the computer, such as deleting files, require passwords. However, students have found ways around it. Carly said the preferred method is asking older students for the passwords or downloading software from the Internet that allows them to bypass the passwords or blocks. Some older students are able to give teacher user names and passwords to younger students to allow prohibited behavior. When students login in with that information, it simply looks as if a teacher has allowed the activity, according to Carly.
Carly, who works in the NHS technology department, said the activity on the computers varies from student to student and could include anything from Facebook, YouTube, downloading music or movies or even watching pornography. Many students hide the activity simply by deleting their Internet history, which erases activity superficially from the machine, but not from the hard drive.
Maine School Administrative District 60 Superintendent Paul Andrade and Noble High School Principal Joe Findley did not return phone calls to Foster’s. Both individuals asked MSAD 60 Technology Director Chris Russo to answer our questions. Russo did not answer questions posed to him concerning district technology policies, challenges or the specific incident that prompted Cheryl and Carly to contact Foster’s.
According to MSAD 60 Board Chairwoman Peg Wheeler, there are many challenges in trying to ensure students are using their laptops for school-related activities. One of the major challenges is ensuring student safety when they are at home. Students are allowed to bring their school laptops home.
According to Wheeler, the school can only monitor student activity when they are on the school’s own network. When they are at home the school has no ability to monitor the activity. There have been talks of making a rule to shut off the laptops at 10 p.m., according to Wheeler, but there has been no formal or even preliminary motion on the matter.
Wheeler said Russo changes administrator passwords very frequently, almost every day. But kids these days are smart and are constantly finding ways around the blocks the school and district put in place. The district has a disciplinary system where students are given two warnings before the laptop is taken away. Wheeler said students are also provided with Internet security and safety classes when they receive their laptops.
As for Carly, she already has suffered some cyberbullying and in-person bullying relating to her coming forward to report student abuse of school laptops. She has filed a report with the school administration detailing the bullying she has experienced.
Visit the Foster’s Daily Democrat (Dover, N.H.) at www.fosters.com/
Distributed by MCT Information Services.
nothing i wouldn’t do if i was in high school…
Yes, but you and I are paying for these children to do this rather than learn something useful and become productive members of society. All a colossal waste of money.
Yes, we should emulate Mexicos educational system. (note sarcasm)
When will government realize and admit this was a collosal waste of tax money? Noble idea (no pun intended), but not realistic. If you’re supplying computers, have them secured in a computer lab at school, where they stay at all times.
Computers are tools not at all unlike books and magazines and paper and pencils. We don’t restrict access to those, so why should we treat computers any differently?
Because they don’t have books in the school library on pornography, mindless chatting, status updates, or Taylor Swift impersonations.
I seem to recall parents being upset about having certain books in the library at school because of content. Judy Blume was a 4 letter word
All the school needs is an internet filter designed to suppress certain content. I am surprised that this isn’t in place already. Look, kids will be kids. They will push the boundaries whenever possible so they require oversight. This is true whether it’s using a computer or driving a car. The response shouldn’t be to deny kids the very best tools available to further their education.
Yea me too, I figured with all the people with a degree in a school system, someone would have thought of a filter…
Chances are they have filters. Filters never stopped me, just posed a different challenge every time the IT department changed their filters. Kids like me would get around the filter and show the other kids how to do it. It’s kinda like the war on drugs or piracy, you can try and fight it but you will never win.
Federal Law requires it and I can guarantee that they are using it. The problem is there are too many ways to bypass filtering and it is not foolproof.
Imagine a society where the free flow of all ideas and speech were protected. Our founding fathers did. In the real world you have to accept the bad as well as the good which is in everything. Thats, everything, with a capital E .
Which is why Larry Flint is one of histories greatest defenders of free speech, many don’t like what he does, but that is kind of the point. Protecting speech even if we don’t like it.
So when can a kid go buy a playboy? At least legally.
Could you legally buy one the first time you looked at one?
Hey Crafty it is a different world. The kids need protecting from kiddy porn/adult predators & themselves. Adults/teachers set the limits & kids push the boundaries that’s always been the case. This new technology is just a new spin……. back in the day it was much more difficult to acquire the porn —- you really have to work to get it NOW it’s invasive.
If your child wants a personal computer, buy him one yourself.
One cannot buy porn under the age of 18 legally. But its free all over the internet.
This woman blames the computer for allowing her daughter to find her biological parents and for all the ills in the world, as many on here also do. How about we realize that kids grow up fast and do stupid things all the time. (Many adults do too.) Blaming computers is an old game. Your reaction reminds me of the old song lyrics:
“and they’ll tell you that the darkness,
is a blessing in disguise,
for you never have to notice
if you’re sighted or your blind,
and they’ll do their best to keep you from the light.”
Using their computers for non-school purposes is going to happen. If they have a good foundation from home it won’t be the end of the world. If the kids already have a bad relationship with mom, don’t blame it on computers and ask the school to fix the problem.
Did you read my post? I’m not anti computer, I just don’t think taxpayers should supply them.
Leave this country, please. Individuals like you make me sick. Our countries education standards are falling behind the rest of the worlds at a swift pace. Access to PC’s and the education to know how to use them is incredibly important. Many students families can not afford them. A child not having a PC is putting them behind the curve of the state of the world.
“Oldboy” it is obvious you are an older individual because you are totally clueless on the way the world functions. Go back to pecking on your keyboard one key at a time and leave your ignorant views outside of the political and social realm. It is a new age, a new generation, and there is no place for opinions like yours any longer. As much as you want to hold our country back the younger generation will prevail and stomp your idiotic policies and ideaologies. In the future when the current youth is the dominating generation your generation will be seen as ignorant, uneducated, nazi like fools.
Don’t hold back, tell me what you really think. I have a college degree, do you? “Nazi like fools”???? I think you need to be psychologically evaluated. You’re an angry person. Cut me a little slack will ya, way back when I went to school we had real winters. After milking the cows and gathering the eggs, we had to walk 7 miles to school and back in 3 feet of snow, uphill BOTH ways. We had snow so deep, we had to go out through the upstairs window. Boy, times were tough back in the 1880’s. LOL
Mass sounds like a troll.
Awesome song. I’d never heard it before. I Goggled the lyrics. Thank you for that.
Wow – “good foundation at home” .. ..
Are you now on the “take responsibility for yourself” side?
Can you show me where I have ever written anything else? You assume that because I am liberal that I think otherwise? Or do you mistake me for somebody else?
Of course people need to take responsibility. Sometimes circumstances are beyond somebody’s control and they need help. People who are poor, disabled, old or otherwise handicapped need the same help that is offered by the government.
People who are drug addicted may need help kicking the habit.
Politicians who lie need to be out of office. Those who are serial hypocrites need condemnation. At the moment, David Vitter of LA is probably the worst example of a politician of any party.
Those who take advantage of programs set up for others (because they can wiggle out a technicality for inclusion) need to grow up and admit it. See Poliquin. There is not a significant difference between him and a welfare cheat who hides income to collect benefits.
I guess what really rankles me is the hypocrisy from the right. We are all admonished to have personal responsibility, and who can argue with that. But when it comes to their own politicians, nobody excels at hypocrisy like a Republican.
Personal responsibility, yes, but business gets a pass.
How about we make the extractive industries pay the real cost of what they do. If you mine coal, you can legally do mountaintop removal, and let the gov’t subsidize the cost. When my fishing streams are polluted forever, do they have to pay for this? No. When the mountain is turned inside out, do they have to restore anything? No, the taxpayers pay to try to turn a piece of the earth from a moonscape to a place where anything at all can grow. The effects of burning coal are well documented, but how much of those costs are borne by industry?
Oil company subsidies run into the billions of dollars/year. Why don’t they take personal responsibility? Why can’t they use some of their billions in profits to do what they rely on the gov’t to do?
So I think it is the height of hypocrisy for conservatives to harp about personal responsibility and then be completely in sync with industry that show no responsibility at all. If individuals have to bear the cost of their actions (and they should), then why can’t indusrty be made to do the same?
Since it’s not their money, my guess is never.
Have you been to a high school/university/college in the past 20 years? Do you have any idea how the modern world functions? That is a waste of tax dollars. Buying PC’s and having them locked in a room is a waste of tax dollars.
Why does it matter if students are using their PC’s for personal interests? That is what allows a child to grow. You tube and the like aren’t the equivalent of rotting your brain watching reality tv. I imagine your senior self probably doesn’t realize that.
For the first time in the history of the world we all have the chance and opportunity to contact anyone from almost any part of the world. We can experience other cultures, other beliefs, other societies all through the power of the internet.
Allowing students to all have access to PC’s is an amazing opportunity for them and our nation. Please keep your ideas out of the public realm, you have become too old to participate or are just incredibly ignorant.
I remember the debates when Gov. King first introduced PC’s to the class room. It wasn’t a bad idea but it didn’t seem to make a big difference in our kids education afterwards. The kids that were going to move ahead would have done so anyway and the ones that weren’t going to move ahead wasted taxpayers money, I suspect this accounts for more than have the kids. It would be interesting to have an actually study on the impact of PCs in the schools. Apparently many schools didn’t think there was a impact and thus locked the PC’s up. That was their decision to make as they know best. Most of them were locked away because the repairs were too much.
Now as far as recycling PC’s year to year…this was stupid! The kids should have been paying for them instead of learning about the many intitlements this State as to offer!
Blah, Blah, Blah. If your kid wants a computer, buy him/her one. That’s what I did for my kids. Or was that an abacus, I’m so old I forget sometimes. Oh, but wait you’re from the give it to me right now generation. If you’re a representative of whatever generation you belong to, this country will fall, because you’re a spoiled brat that wants everything handed to you. If you need it, earn it. And yeah I went to college and have a very successful career. Some might even call me a professional. Now go do your homework on the laptop that “my generation” gave you, and good luck with “your” future America.
Do you believe high school students should buy their own text books? Should they have to earn them? PC’s are the new textbook buddy. Although both are still being used within the next few years the printed textbook will no longer exist.
It isn’t a “give me now” attitude. It is a necessity at this point. It has nothing to do with entitlement or being spoiled. Our students are falling behind the rest of the world at a rapid pace because of views like yours. If laptops were properly utilized they could actually be used as a cost reduction method. Think about that one old boy.
Your generation got my nation and generation into massive debt. Your generation ruined this country and there are few that would disagree.
Well welcome back. Mommy finally tell you it was time to get up. My generation didn’t ruin anything and in fact took steps to ensure there might be something of our natural resources left for yours. How are you going to run “your” nation when your generation has no communication skills? You text, twitter, facebook, etc. without ever actually speaking to anyone. It’s easy to trash talk someone anonymously or through a social medium when your counterpart can’t respond to you face to face. You need to pull your head out of the clouds and do something positive. your generation is faced with crushing debt, global warming, terrorist threat, drug resistant disease, and extreme world overpopulation. You as a person seem to offer nothing but whining and blaming others for a reality that nobody likes. BTW, until you start contributing, you’re part of the problem not a solution. Be a doer, not a dreamer. I haven’t posted anything here that I wouldn’t say to your face, I doubt if you’ve done the same.
Have you been to a supermarket or convenience store and have the register shut down or a power outage? Most young cashiers of both high school and college age can’t even make change correctly. I know this because I’ve seen it. You’re so dependent on your techno toys that you don’t even have basic math skills. How will you survive if the power grid or web goes down for an extended period of time?
but school administrators said nothing but “ahhh”
Really, is anyone surprised by this? I agree with the idea of computer labs at every school instead of a laptop for every student. Also, enough computers to go around and specified allotments of time in the daily schedule for using the labs.
What about students whose parents can’t afford a computer for doing homework?
You don’t need a computer for home work, you learn more with out one.
My child attends a school that does not have personal laptops for every student. There are computers in the library for student use. There are computers at the public library. Out of the entire school year I would estimate that my child HAS to use a computer for school work, twice a month. If it’s a project or English paper it becomes three to four days a month. Never ever has he had a problem completing required work using the school computers in the library. Our schools library is also open after school for students who do not have access to computers at home.
Here in the school my nieces go to they are constantly needing to prepare reports on the computer or even researching topics their class is studying that aren’t adequately covered in the current text books. The school assigns them lap tops for the year they can use at home. I find it hard to believe your child or any child in this century doesn’t need access to one more than twice a month. When school closes at 4p and no one has a computer what do they do??
Most school are requiring you to do your homework on a laptop and turn laptop in during day. I know at least three schools that are doing it, and more following
You should not need it for homework. Most schools homework they make a kid look stuff up or print it off. Too bad disadvantaged kids are left behind by the system.
Study hall, computer lab time….less Allen’s and cigarettes…….Summer jobs? After school jobs? Computers are found in many homes where you’d think families “can’t afford” them.
Libraries?????
Sorry oldy I copied your response….
It’s called a “school library” and every school has one. If a teacher is requiring a computer for things like homework or typed essays, then the school will have computers they can access to do their work.
I worked with a woman who used the computer at work, spending hours during work time typing her kids essay for school, their printer at home was broken she said. The kid was just lazy and let her mother do it for her. This went on for the whole school year. For most of the rest of the day, she spent on the Internet and e-mailing jokes to her friends. Not much different than kids during the school day, except she was being paid to work.
So you worked with someone stealing from your employer.
What happ3ened when you reported it? Since of course you would have been guilty too if you knew of her stealing and did nothing.
I didn’t have to report it, the manager of the dept. caught on to her and dealt with it.
Library!
PEWWWWWW…for minute there I thought my tax money was being wasted …at least sex education is some form of education….oh boy….
Sounds like the tech department and admin needs to CLAMP DOWN on the usage. What kind of teacher allows the kids to be messing around on the computer when she’s trying to teach a class anyway? Take the damned things away if they don’t do what they are supposed to be doing. And if they monitor the usage, again, take the thing away if there is any misuse. Don’t condemn the whole program due to a few bad apples. A lot of this starts at HOME….. parents set expectations of appropriate behavior, then reinforce that behavior. And the schools need to do the same.
Having two kids in school, I’ve seen the good that comes from the computer usage, including doing papers at home and researching things. Not everyone can afford the home computers, so this program levels the playing field for this “Digital Generation” of kids.
Even if the teachers wanted to set limits and remove the computers during a lesson, there are parents that complain to the schools and think that their little angel is the most wonderful thing on earth.
This is ridiculous. Even if the students can get around blocks etc, the school can also monitor site usage through the network itself and trace it back to the particular laptop (isp address), employers have been doing it for years. Sounds to me like the school district isn’t really serious about stopping this, that or their technology department has some shortcomings.
Exactly!
I wonder how much money it costs to actively monitor student activity…and considering how much school budgets have been cut, wonder if this is not part of the reason why schools can not be as effective as they should (because they don’t have the funding they need to monitor activity the way it should be). You can only do so much on a shoestring budget…
Not so much a money issue — IF they have competent IT folks they can block anything. They need to get on it. This is a big OOOPs by the school. Budget is no excuse real world safety is a big threat. If they can’t afford proper protection they should not have the computers.
“IF they have competent IT folks they can block anything. ”
It does take money for equipment and licensing.
With the school budget cuts that have been made, maybe it would make more sense to cut the school laptop program and put back in place the computer labs. I have yet to see our kids use the laptop outside of school for any school homework or project. If all of the academic use is being done in the school, couldn’t it be done in the school computer lab?
You block the ports that are used for video streaming, audio streaming and etc. You could also apply a security policy to block known Ip addresses that provide service to various sites again such as audio, video, porn. It would take about 10 minutes or so.
10 minutes huh ? You don’t know much about it apparently.
I totally agree. As a matter of fact, I am still trying to figure out why middle school students need to have laptops to begin with. I understand the high school students having them a little more, even though I am still against any of the students having them. Now I will admit that I am pretty technology challenged, but I got through middle school and high school perfectly well without a computer. What is wrong with teaching the basics, person to person, not person to computer to person. If we could spend a little more time teaching and spending some time with our students, I bet we would see a huge difference in behavior and respect issues. These kids who are given laptops in middle school spend entirely too much time alone with their computers and God knows what sites they are accessing. As someone earlier brought up, no matter how many security passwords you put on, the kids are going to get through to the sites.
I am not trying to put blame on anyone. But the more we allow our children to spend so much time alone with their laptops the more kids we will have that are unmanagable. Bring back the computer labs in High School if you must, but interact with these kids, don’t just let the laptop teach our kids manners, values etc..
I concur. Absolutely ridiculous. Years ago, when I was in middle and high school, we had computer labs. Certain sites were blocked. (Youtube, Myspace, porn, etc.) Can’t imagine that’d be super hard to do for a set of laptops… We wouldn’t need to be constantly monitoring students if non-academic websites were blocked for school laptops.
No blocks at all on my sons laptop when they bring it home. Any wifi hot spot will work .. Like they can’t find 10 places to use it on the way home.
That’s because the blocks are on the school firewall. If he searches something he’s not supposed to, he can still get cought at school. Even if he clears his history.
The Macs schools use maybe hard to boot from a linux . Most desktops and laptops can be bypassed. without saving anything to the hardrive. just saying its not so much the school laptops in school as the internet as a whole.
Cought? I’ve got a nasty one right now. Doc says it will pass when the temps warm up.
Sounds to me like you haven’t any knowledge of the steps the school’s actually have taken to prevent laptop misuse other than what’s been told to you in this article. Oh wait, this article doesn’t include ANY information relevant to that, now has it? This ‘News Story’ is a great example of the deteriorating reporting skills that are becoming oh so common nowadays. The truth is, an angry parent is trying to place blame on the school for her child being such an imbecile; isn’t that a joke. The technology department has done all that’s practically possible to prevent laptop misuse, there is and always has been proxies and let me tell you; NO ONE except the Administrator has access to that password on our laptop, not like that password has anything to do with web browsing which this story is all about.
I have said this since the day school-provided laptops were conceived as appropriate in the hands of teenagers. They aren’t. This is a dangerous game schools are playing. Laptops – small personal computers (and phones that are basically computers) are inappropriate for kids who cannot be properly monitored.
It would be a good idea to copy-edit cooperative stories from other papers, considering the bizarre punctuation Foster’s uses in the parenthetical comments near the beginning of the story:
“Cheryl first became aware of students using their school laptops for nonacademic activities a couple of weeks ago when her youngest adopted daughter, ‘Carly’ (not her real name. Foster’s is protecting her privacy) informed her that Cheryl’s older adopted daughter, ‘Vanessa,’ (also not her real name. Foster’s is protecting her privacy) had been making videos of herself and her friends and uploading them to YouTube.com — all on her school laptop.”
The periods used in the parenthetical comments should be semicolons, considering that Foster’s chose to use the comments mid-sentence.
In addition, it would be nice to know why Foster’s felt it necessary not to use the two students’ real names.
considering that with all the clues that were just given they were very easy to find on YouTube
I am a teacher at a Central Maine HS and we have a program called Lanschool. I can observe everyone on my computer screen at once. If a student is abusing the PC then I can FREEZE their screen for as long as I like or simply take it away from them,which I sometimes do.They all know I can do this and so I have no problems with my kids? Sounds like Noble HS should get one of these if the media reporting is accurate.I personally don’t believe the media MOST of the time.Fortunately,the truth always comes out eventually.
Which seems to be a good idea but then what could you teach them instead of monitoring them on a computer? That is also assuming that you are paying attention to them at the moment because they are certainly paying attention to exactly what you are doing. These kids are not stupid and they can calculate just when, how, and where to violate rules just to see if they can get away with it.
I see what your saying but this program is already 10 steps ahead of the student and teacher. This progam does the monitoring and controlling for the teacher so the teacher can teach. Lanschool already takes care of the problem you are suggesting. The teacher has complete control, so there is no need to sit behind the computer to monitor. The teacher can plan ahead as to what sites the kids are on and block all applications and programs except for what the teacher wants and if the student tries to bypass, the computer shuts down. See for yourself, I was a skeptic in the beginning but this is great program. If there is way around this program I would like to see it.
http://www.lanschool.com/
As a recent HS graduate I can assure you that it’s easy to get around. The students download games movies porn whatever at home and then they just don’t connect to the schools network in class.
The program generates a report of computer activity as soon as the machine is on the schools network……….what you state is true, if the school allows the user to manage internet connections. You don’t think a bunch of software engineers thought of the “easy way around” a program like this. In the end, this is not a policing tool. This is an educational tool to add more control to the classroom. Your way around this program is elementary at best and I have users try to beat the program this way…..doesn’t work. Sorry, Jacko.
In a large school it slows the whole network down and is not effective.
I have heard of that and its pretty cheap from what i heard. Noble high school should invest in it
I am very happy that a responsible teacher like youself actually screens your students, but not all teachers either care or have the time to do so. My son is 13, the perfect curious age, and often tells me what the kids at his school are doing. This is the same school that told all parents that they have someone who checks the sites often and will take away laptops from all children who abuse their priviledges and if the children delete their history, they will also lose their laptop. Believe me, its not always being done. I still believe, however, that the laptop program is an excellent program and strongly believe that it should stay in the school systems. I just wish if the school systems need help to monitor the children, then each parent should have the ability to go into their childs history and check into what they are learning..or peeking at.
Who cares if they are looking at porn at school if we can not stop them at home . Only way i can see to do that is not let them have computers . Not like a kid cannot live boot a linux disk and leave no trace. Guess you are talking about school . I have never seen a central kid with a school laptop. Maybe one could block a server but somewhere thier is aways something unlocked the can get into.
“Not like a kid cannot live boot a linux disk and leave no trace. ”
They can’t. The boot process is locked and even if possible bypassed every time it starts back up it relocks.
This is available in the school system in my district as well. Our IT guy is on this problem constantly. He stopped students from downloading movies illegally too. You tube is blocked for all students, but not teachers as there are educational videos available there and the teacher uses an LCD to show the class. ALSO the article is wrong in that the reporter made it sound like every school in the state has laptops for every kid from grade 7-12. That is not uniform across the state. Funding varies widely and few schools have laptops for every kid.
This laptop program is a great moneymaker for Apple and a raw deal for Maine. Desktop are better for the money, have less damage and the teacher who doesn’t have Lanschool can see what the kids are doing.
Surprise, surprise, surprise, students are often just like their parental units and school officials don’t have enough staff or technological ability to monitor every minute what type of perversion within society students or parents might choose to engage in. This is news to someone?
I am dead against laptop computers in the classroom: 1) Its a waste of money, teachers teach kids laptop do not 2) No academic gain has come from laptop use 3) Too much time is wasted by staff trying to fix these computers 4) students waste time on other websites besides the site they should be on 5) we already have desktop computers for students to access 6) cost of buying and upkeep can be best spent elsewhere.
I am and will continue to stand against laptops for studets – this story just further promotes my stand!
Just here to let you know that the only reason I passed any of my math classes was because of a website called KhanAcademy that was used in place of a text book in one of my math classes. Once I discovered that site I was able to get myself through the rest of my math classes. No, laptops do not inherently teach you how to do something, but when the majority of teachers nowadays seem to have no idea what they’re doing, they can be an enormous help.
and you couldn’t use a desktop, or a computer at home to do this, or were you on the computer while the teacher was trying to teach? Laptops in schools are a BIG WASTE OF MONEY, ABUSED BY STUDENTS AND SOME TEACHEARS –
My son is 13 and already know how to make a power-point presentation, and a lot more than I could ever imagine knowing when I was his age. He is an honor roll student and has a great future ahead of him. Now, research what is needed in the professional field these days…MOST jobs requires having a strong computer background. This program is helping to get our children ready for the future, and technology is only getting more advanced. It is our job, as a parent, to help the teachers by monitoring our children and teach them the morals and values needed in life to become a responsible adult in the future.
You are right! Morals begins at home.
And kids you think are moral do not look at porn? Right ok It does not make them bad just curious. I wonder how many kids go to Sunday school drink and have sex? Get real people please.
Again, I repeat myself – A laptop is not needed to do this – a desktop works just fine – and we already have these in our classrooms.
We do? Nice that you can speak for every school in the state to know this.
Ah yes I can speak for every school in the state – as I have visited each one!
Please explain the difference between a laptop and a desktop in terms of accessing inappropriate content at school. And you couldn’t have been in every school building in the state to proclaim that they all have classroom desktops because the one in our town doesn’t.
The cost of a laptop. upkeep. the fact that the school already has desktops. Kids naturally, when using a laptop, can then easily access sites they should not be on – and just close the lid – VS a desktop – no lid to close / usually positioned so staff can see what sites students are accessing.
Your trying to tell me that your school does not have a desktop and/or a computer lab – wow they must have just got rid of it and I know you need to check your facts – I would for the public school system!
The cost of PC upkeep is very little. For individuals like you it may be expensive because you do not know how to properly use and fix them. The generation currently in high school is very proficient and can do the simple tasks themselves. You are very behind on the times if that is what you think.
If a student quickly closes a laptop screen, not a lid, it would arouse suspicion. Teachers nor students are stupid. The behavior is being allowed because it isn’t bad. You are claiming a student can do everything on a desktop they can on a laptop, so why are you then stating contradictory theories on access issues? You aren’t making any sense. You are fighting tooth and nail to have a reason that this new fangled technology shouldn’t be around.
Students cannot access computer labs after school hours. Students aren’t free to do what they want all day. Papers are now typed. Many students cannot afford PC’s. If a student cannot learn to proficiently type by the time they are in high school they will be a failure at gaining any well paying employment. Your ideas are really stupid and ignorant. You need to to accept the world has changed and you don’t know anything about it.
You are a very poor representative of our youth.
Thank you for your response to Mass IMO
No, I am the youth. You are just very out of touch with how the current youth thinks and feels. We are fed up and sick of the older generations destroying everything. We are stick of our future being washed down the toilet in the name of greed. We WANT to pay higher taxes so our country can be provided for. We WANT the wars to end that are costing our country more money than anything. We WANT to provide our students with laptops, books, and amazing education. We HATE those older than us because they have destroyed this nation. We are bringing it back.
A few posts back you accused my generation of being “ignorant, uneducated, nazi like fools”. Now you hate everyone older than you. Who sounds like an ignorant, uneducated, nazi like fool now. Do you hate your parents enough to live financially independently? You don’t even know what generation I am. Let’s end it this way. I’ve lived, worked hard, been successful and happy. Let’s see how you’re doing in a few decades when welfare and entitlements are gone because we used them all up and our crooked politicians sold our country to China. I feel sorry for your generation, not for you, but because I have children that will face the same crises. You may well see the end of the civilized world, and will almost certainly see the economic collapse of the U.S. Channel your energy toward real change and stop feeling sorry for yourself, and blaming others. It’s futile.
My ideas are Really stupid and ignorant – I am sorry dear – you are the one that needs help, you are the one that has not walked in a teachers shoes, you are the one that is not in a classroom on a daily basis, you are the one who does not deal with disruptive students not doing as they are asked, you are the one not dealing with students who are using these computers for their own selfish desires – no I am not the stupid and ignorant one – you are! And by the way I do know the cost of buying and upkeep- and yet again I have never seen a computer teach a child!
You are one twisted individual. You are a Socialist, an Obama supporter, and are in favor of one world government, and you think peace all over the world will be acompolished by the present administration, Right? Let me know how that’s working for you-wen you pull your head from your a__. Talk about stupid!
No desk tops in my school. Hasn’t been for years.
My school doesn’t have desk tops or a computer lab. Can’t imagine having a computer lab for over 400 students. We use laptops in EVERY class.
How do you get “desktop” time then when it is needed in all of your classes ????
Most kids that age have an interest in Curiosity In sex. If you kid is smart enough to run power point he could live boot linux and leave no trace on your computer. Even if you have it protected. Sneak on when your in bed . not saying yours does. Just saying a lot of kids will. Trust Me I was a boy. I always seemed to fine magazines and hid them well. Internet just makes it so easy for them its not funny.
It definately is the parents job… glad someone finally said it. My parents ALWAYS knew what I was up to on the computer and I knew the consequences if I broke the rules.
Someone had mentioned the kids not needing laptops and I do kindof agree with that… laptops i’m sure are more convenient etc etc but what is wrong with desktops? Everyone can see what you’re doing so there’s really no question about whether you’re being appropriate or not. And if the laptops really are that necessary, then they should have rules/guidelines with proper monitoring in place, and if someone oversteps then their should be repercussions BUT it all starts at home with parent education!! :)
Where’s your evidence for your 6 conclusions? My 9th grade daughter has been in the laptop program for several years and our observations counter your conclusions. Maybe if you’d been exposed to the Internet at a younger age your thinking would be less reactionary. One observation, yours, mine, or the folks’ in this article, does not a case make.
First and formost – these are not conclusions – they are facts.
I have been exposed to the internet at a young age – as I am using it right now.
Laptops are a waste of money – I have yet to see a laptop diferentiate curriculum, read and understand educational testing, and apply with the student needs to a real world situation. Teachers and staff are needed LAPTOP ARE NOT! Desktop fine-.
Take and just spend a day in the classroom – you will see!
Did the paper really run a story based on such unreliable, unsubstantiated information? How about a single fact or piece of evidence,, that can be independently verified to support this woman’s claims?
OMG, could you please find something to do?
It’s happening in every school district in the state of Maine. I live in one district but work in another. I know for a fact that it happens in both.
Maybe they got the story from the PPH.
Free computers = dumbest idea ever. All the kids have computers at home already. I hear that the upkeep fee for repairing the heavily abused & unappreciated laptops in most schools exceeds the cost of the computers themselves. Insane.
Probably because they get the laptops for pennies on the dollar. They’re not paying anywhere near market value for any of these computers.
And, that’s Apple’s way of trying to sell home computers — get the kids hooked at school and they have to have the SAME THING at home … can’t believe Angus King bought into this marking scam that has been Apple’s modus operandi since schools started using computers. Once the students are “trained”, exactly how many Apple computers do you see in the average workplace … ???
You would be surprised. I have been in the loop with bids of 120,000 units or more for Apple computers for businesses.
NO not all children have computers at home. There are plenty without. But perhaps you live in one of those rich areas of Maine.
Tech Dept: go to Open DNS make an account and set the controls to stop unwanted access, they will have no way past it on your network. It would be best if the schools did not issue computers, it’s a waste of money.
You under estimate the power of the dark side. That will stop them for a week tops.
“Tech Dept: go to Open DNS make an account and set the controls to stop unwanted access, they will have no way past it on your network.”
Really ??? You don’t know much about how DNS works in an enterprise setting then do you ?
This is an issue. In the school I work at the IT department is constantly playing catchup on what students are doing with the laptops. In class, most teachers have come to the realization that they are useless during lecture/discussion because they are much to easy for students to be doing other things than paying attention. For research and projects they are great tools, but for most study hall use, or open during lessons, forget about using them.
Just doing what their parents do. Why does this country continue to pray to their God Mark Zuckerberg and offer their tithes of all their personal information.
After reading paragraph seven I think Ms Cheryl’s crusade is more driven by personal issues than education issues. I think she is more upset by the fact that the older daughter may have used the lap top to reconnect with her biological mother. The fact that the daughter moved out to live with the biological mother makes one wonder if perhaps there are not some bigger underlying issues.
If students are being allowed personal use while the teacher is trying to teach then the teacher is not doing their job. The last time I attended school the teacher set the rules not the students.
Today’s youngsters need all of the time they can get to utilize computers — that is the age we live in. The older generation ( yes I am one of them ) has had to scramble to keep up with the technical advances in our professions. Our children and their children do not have that luxury — they have to hit the ground running.
Parents complaining about inappropriate use of computers and cell phones need to look at themselves first. One of the biggest complaints in business today is the time wasted by employee’s personal use of computers and cell phones on company time. As a manager I get really upset when we are trying to get something accomplished and an employee looks at me and says just a minute while I take this call from Susy.
So, I guess that you, as a Manager, don’t set the rules. The employee tells you, “just a minute while I take this call from Susy.” Sounds like she’s telling you.
When I saw that paragraph I immediately thought how foolish to blame the school. The child could have ,and most likely would have done, the research at the public library if not at home when the mother wasn’t there.
This may not have happened 40 years ago but then again if the child was intent on getting the information about the biological parent they most likely would have back then it just would have taken more time and effort.
In my school all of the “fun” site are blocked (fb, skype, youtube, etc.) and new ones are blocked as they become popular. Also, all staff have a program called Lanschool on their computers. With this program we can see what is on any students laptop at any given time, we can with a touch of a button make all of a classes screens go blank, and we can shut down their internet access in an instant. Staff is expected to monitor their students. If students are caught, they are “white listed” which means they lose all of their internet access for the remainder of the trimester, or year, depending on what they were caught doing. We have filters that stop students from looking at pornographic/innappropriate sites. On my lunch break, I can’t even view the blogs I read as the filter doesn’t allow it. We have an excellent and proactive technology director and assistant who makes all of this happen. Also, students are never allowed to clear their history. If they do, they lose their laptop privs. Even if they do clear their history, this sets up a red flag and their internet use is then checked.
Duh…? This is breaking news how again? What else do you do with these machines. Surf the web, yeah right…
Those who had experience with making technology available in schools objected to the laptop idea. Because education tends to use teachers, instead of IT professions, for technology management, the simple safe guards that would prevent accessing porn and other objectionable site are not employed. Also, while the laptop history can be erased, the servers could easily be maintaining it and would be able to identify the students violating trust.
Pulling someone’s laptop and disciplining them would be a “real world” lesson, since, in both government and industry, people get fired for this behavior.
“the simple safe guards that would prevent accessing porn and other objectionable site are not employed.”
There are no “simple safe guards”. There are always ways around them.
Absolutely they are going online.. and absolutely the administration is aware of this, but put blinders on to not have to deal with it. I know because my daughter was a victim of bullying at her school. What she endured was 99% through school computers. Her school has since stopped the use of computers on the outside but what about “Still” on the inside, while they are in school? The other issue is… take away the laptops and they can “still” get online with their phones. It is a never ending battle! Stricter rules need to be inforced.. And no one should have to fall victim to any of this..
http://www.pressherald.com/news/committee-oks-anti-bullying-bill-for-state-schools_2012-01-25.html
Well, duh. What did we think they were going to use them for? Having a laptop for every student is insane. How on earth do School students in other states get by with using the computers in the school library or the computers in the public libraries or the computer most of them have at home? Does anyone believe this is only going on in the Noble School System? Only in Maine does stupidity reign.
“All public school students in Maine in grades six through 12 get laptops
from the school district as part of the state’s laptop initiative.” ……..This is an incorrect statement. The MLTI state initiative provides support for 7-12 but laptops were only provided free to Maine’s 7 & 8th grade students. Some districts expanded to HS but some did not…..they were not available to all students grade 6-12.
I find it hard to believe that there are not filters in place at the school to block content. Most districts have some type of filter/block in place although as students get smarter they may be outwitting some of these filters. Kids are tech savvy and even though that causes some difficulties when they are at the age when we are trying to protect and monitor them, when they get into the working world, being tech savvy will be necessary for them to survive. However, I am not saying that they should not be monitored while still in school.
My understanding is that deleting history, does NOT make it unavailable to the IT staff….That from an IT person who works at a school district.
It sounds like the mother is angry with some of the things her daughter has done and is trying to blame the tool. The daughter could have gone to any public library or place where a computer is available and still looked up info on her biological mother or used one of the classroom desktop computers or even borrowed a friends smart phone.
Kids can, and do, get around blocks. My stepdaughter does and brags about it on FB with her friends. Why she even has a FB is beyond me.
I personally think they need to do away with the laptops, or not allow them to go home. When i was in school they had settings to block certain sites and we were not allowed to bring laptops home (they got laptops my sr year). You know I graduated with As and Bs, My sister can take her laptop home and does the most obnoxious things on it she is barely making it through the 7th grade. It is a waste of money and there is nothing you can do on a laptop you cant do with school computers and books sorry. If you cant afford a computer which i could not in HS there are places to go my school had a bus that ran after hours for kids who stayed later at school. There is no Excuse for all this….
We’re constantly demonizing teachers for being lazy and being union thugs, but the kids seem to be the problem. We need to be hard on them and expect more accountability. This requires the parents too.
No no no every says its the union an teachers fault
Speaking as a high school student, I can tell you that most misbehavior on school laptops is no fault of any teacher’s. Even the most obnoxious, rude, seemingly-inbred kids are crafty, deceptive, and able to run a thirty-second google search to figure out how to get around their school’s block, or even project a fake image of their desktop to these desktop monitoring services. The teachers try, but because the majority of them were not born or raised with technology like we were (and some of them actually seem afraid of it) they just don’t have the ability to keep up with us.
When will learning become the responsibility of the student? These students mucking around off task in class are missing an opportunity that has been given to them by the schools and taxpayers. When will we look at school from that point of view? The teacher is there, doing his/her job, and the students? Are they doing their job? What about parents? Where does their responsibility to teach and reinforce the value of education come in to play? Why is it always some one else’s fault?
You have 700 students using laptops. Can you monitor each one every second of each day? That would be like the police catching everyone who rolls through a stop sign. You set up as many safeguards as you can, but there are 27000000000 websites and more everyday. Does this mean we should just deny the value of the web and computers? Computers are the tools students will use the rest of their lives, to create, to learn, to explore, to connect with the world. We should deny this because you can post a video to YouTube?
Don’t you know that it’s the unions an teachers fault for this is happening the teacher should be looking over the shoulder of every kids in the class at once time to get rid of teachers that don’t do that . Bet the school would run out of teachers in 2 months
What the hell do you need teachers for? The students have computers.
You tell me an we both will know
Have you, as a parent, ever try to confront the school system? Not a pretty thing.
This is the worst-kept secret in Maine.
Kids do whatever they want with the laptops.
They probably got the idea when the story was circulated about the use of computers in the halls of our Congress and Senate in Washington. There was a picture from the back of the room showing our elected officials playing computer games and messaging and surfing in general. The picture was blown up in size and it shows it all!
“They probably got the idea when the story was circulated about the use of computers in the halls of our Congress and Senate in Washington.”
Which is funny because they have to “PRINT” the budget and drag it through the halls on large carts.
Seems to me the laptop program is training students to do the same things they will when they graduate and get a job. Spend alot of their time at work, using the computer for the activities mentioned. Another great sucess.
This is not a new story – been going on since day 1.
These computers should NEVER leave the School building.
I’m a Grandmother and I know.
No offense Grandmother, and I know you mean well, but people should probably avoid tech advice from you.
Avoidance is good, but I don’t think Grammy’s advice was technical in nature.
You should be very aware of how many “Grannies” are technically savvy … I am and I am a grannie, too.
Sounds there school needs an improvement in blocking websites
The idea of giving children lap tops was one of those things that hypothetically could have been a truly great opportunity. The problem is that too many parents don’t care whether their children are really learning anything they are just concerned about whether their kid is being treated nicely (see story on Freeport teacher).
School boards are not on top of this for a variety of reasons, none good. Administrators are doing very little about it.
Probably two thirds of the teachers are way behind the curve in knowing what’s available or how to use it.
There are educational programs out there that could be used in conjunction with teaching that could be advancing children rapidly in all skills needed in a modern society. Most school districts are not using them at all or not effectively. Kids in our district are going to college not even having decent skills with a spread sheet.
For example the math teacher while lecturing instead of calling on the kids individually could be calling on the entire class at the same time—the kids would then enter the problem and the answer on the laptop—how simple is that? The little darlings wouldn’t have time to be friggin with Facebook if I were running the class I can tell you that.
Parents you better wake up because your kids are being left behind and when they get out there in the real world and some kid from China is eating your little darling’s lunch he/she isn’t going to be enjoying much self esteem.
then the little “darlings” will just blame someone else for their problems. For their lack of income, lack of skills, whatever. It will never be their fault.
Why is this even a story,let alone the lead on the page?
And experts are saying that our kids are not being trained for the work place!
If you eliminate young people’s access to computers and the internet, you might as well buy them a horse and buggy, because technology will bypass them… Yes, a small percentage will use the internet for porn, but at no greater rate than older adults… It still is parents responsibility to monitor their children’s computer use…
limit? No. Let them or their parents foot the bill? Why not?
I never understood why taxpayers were forced to pay for these laptops for students who had parents perfectly capable of buying these items for their own children.
When I took auto shop (back when dinosaurs still roamed he earth) we had to pay for, and bring our own tools. I’ve still got mine.
Given that logic we should start charging for school books too then.
a small percentage? guess again bucko.
Most students have been using their state issued laptops for non-school related activities while in the classroom.
What do people want or expect? Our education system is constantly under fire for not preparing our students for work. All of my experience in work over the past few decades required knowing how to use the current technology, regardless of what it is. Yes, kids will be kids. People will do dumb things with any tool (remember car jousting- we didn’t ban cars when that was popular). Schools should monitor to their best what going on, but will not catch it all. Laptops should not go home. Most people have computers at home, and files, such research papers and spreadsheets can be shared across platforms via email or USB drives. This mom seems to be having issues that, while made worse over the school network, are not caused by or able to be prevented by stopping access to technology at schools. Any time a technology makes communication more easy, there are going to be problems. We would have to go back to the age of kerosene lamps and wood stoves in schools to prevent the use of laptops. Even that may not work.
So the kids are doing the same things adults are? Hmm. I am not sure if I see a problem here. And for the kid that made and uploaded all the videos – KUDOS! Production and tech skills, ambition and creativity…what’s wrong with that? Seems to me those are exactly the outcomes one would hope for when issuing state of the art technological tools…No? Methinks an uptight mom is at the base of this…
I would challange each and every parent to visit school for just one day AND ride the bus to and from school. Nuff said………
Reminds me of high school. Facebook just came out so not many people were messing with it but myspace was all the rave. First we used proxies to get around the filters then some of us who brought our own laptops to school could get around everything. Hell I would come to school and play starsiege: tribes because ping times were amazing compared to dialup. There was a few of us that did this, pretty much all of us have degrees in computer science now.
This isn’t bad thing really, if a kid can learn to get around firewalls and parental controls that shows that the kid is learning. The kids that are really good at it, they are the ones that are going to make it. Network Security jobs pay MAJOR money and this is a stepping stone towards landing a job like that. If you know how to break a network you know how to prevent that same break-in from happening. I honestly think though getting macbooks for the school is a huge waist of money. They could of save boat loads by just getting regular PC’s and if they really want to get kids to learn computer, install Linux distros. This way you are virus free and the kids can learn the fundamentals of computers, don’t have to pay for expensive windows licensing/Apple repair, and possibly a bit of programming that isn’t HTML.
I am not from the school laptop age. I was raised in school that you couldnt even use a calculator, because you learned more from doing it in your head. These kids get laptops from in some areas, Kindergarten, they cannot spell, they cannot add,subtract, or mutiply, and their writing is as bad as most in the medical profession. Maybe its time to go back to the old days, get rid of the laptops, force the teachers to TEACH, and the kids to LEARN..Subtract the cost of laptops from the school budget and maybe a couple more decent teachers will keep their jobs. There will be plenty of time when they get to college to use a computer, besides most families have one at home now, so one in school is certainly not also needed.
“force the teachers to TEACH, and the kids to LEARN” — and the parents to PARENT!
OMG! School is like real life? We must stop this now!
Cast out the laptops.
Bring back the abacus and the slates.
We don’t need no stinking teknolojikallee competent work force!
yessah
It is so obvious that these machines are used 90% of the time to waste time.
But when it’s our Congress and Senate, it gets swept under the rug and remembored no more. Sad.
I had a twelve year old child living here about 6 years ago. He taught
me how to circumvent filters. it takes about 30 seconds and all you
need as an account or an open computer which you can access. My
twelve-year-old used the one at the town office, but he had lots of
choices including the local village store, Walmart’s or Downeast
Community Hospital.
… and he told me he wasn’t very good at this compared to his peers.
Some of these school administrators just don’t want to enforce rules and expectations. The kids lose in the end, because they won’t learn to be accountable and to have self-control.
If the parents started with enforcing rules and expectations, it would be a lot easier on the teachers and administrators when those little darlings go to school. Accountability and self-control start in the home!!
You’re correct, it definitely starts at home. But when the kids at school break the rules, they need to be held accountable and suffer consequences. I’ve witnessed reluctance by school administrators to do that.
Here is some basic information that is missing from the article and comments. Students in grades 7&8 get laptops from the state. Grades 9-12 can purchase them from the state. All Maine school, in fact all schools nationally must have filters on their internet lines. Filters work great for students who respect them, however there are many ways around filters. Students use proxy servers as well as software to get around them. Anyone that thinks you can lock down an internet connection using filters, OpenDNS or any other method really does not know what they are talking about. There are many products that let IT view student laptop screens and review applications they have on their drives. Laptops from the state come with control software installed, and most school use it often to scan their students’ machines.
Computers are a tool, they provide access to information, tools to use that information, and programs to present information. They can be a wonderful asset to education and a great distraction to education.
The larger question that never seems to be asked is why are so many students actively avoiding learning? Teachers must not only teach the willing they must constantly deal with disruption and utter indifference from the unwilling. We all talk about the importance of an education, but as a society we make it clear to our young that learning is not what really counts. Kids are not dumb, they see what gets the attention and financial rewards in our country. They know what their peers and parents think is important, and it is not being the smartest or hardest working student in class.
You want better schools, you want schools where students are using the tools we provide for learning, than make a better society.
Filters are on School severs . they are completely Unlocked when I Kid brings them home. Dose anyone not expect a teenage boy not to look at porn? I was a boy at one time . Only thing I could think about was sex I was not getting lol. I guess that never changed much haha.
“All public school students in Maine in grades six through 12 get laptops from the school district as part of the state’s laptop initiative.”
Check your facts. This a is patently false statement. All students 6-8 recieve them; all Maine high schools were offered the opportunity but many high schools do not participate in the program due to lack of funds. Belfast Area High School is but one example.
I will agree that their should be a computer class in the school and that should be the only place that a student should be allowed to use a computer and that should be to learn how to use it.
Any high school student can type in what he wants on a internet page and find what he wants and doesn’t need a computer to make it from one class room to another. but to make a internet page or get into the deeper workings of a computer you need the internet class. Other then that a laptop in school will be just a expensive distraction.
What did the administration expect, that all the students would be responsible and using the lap tops appropriately? This whole thing is ridiculous. Spend all the money for lap tops and just let the students use them any way they wish? There is something wrong with this picture.
Noble High School isn’t the only school this happens in. I live in Bucksport and my son is in High School and almost all the kids do it here too! I don’t know why something is done to stop this. Its no wonder our state has the lowest test scores, holy cow its because all the kids are on You Tube and Facebook during class. All the schools that have laptops should have the same program that Central High has where the teacher can monitor their laptops at all times.
if you really wanted to “stop this” then they would not be issued laptops.
instead of laptops for every person there should be a terminal set up at every desk.
Those could be controlled, the teacher could use software to supervise the students activities, and it would cost far less than what we’re paying now.
Noooo! Really?
You tell ’em FannyCrack!
Lanschool. There is alot of technology out there to stop this bologna. I know a senior network engineer very well that says this is crap that they haven’t blocked this. Part of his job is to monitor the network and catch anyone on porn sites or even christmas shopping. Then track it back to the appropriate user for reprimand as in Christmas shopping, or termination as in Porn. Everyone has an Isp address, from my understanding, not my language, I can’t spell computer let alone monitor one. I’m certain they will now fix their big problem, now that the media is involved. Funny how that works.
There’s ways to get around the blocks and programs and the kids know them all. Couldn’t the teacher just say put away the iphones, laptops and cell phones and pay attention to the math lesson?? An old fashioned idea to make kids listen and learn.
Its funny they say kids can find a way around, but professionals at huge cooperations find difficuties and get caught!
Huge corporations have more money to pay their IT techs to stop unauthorized activity. Most schools do not have the money to pay a fulltime IT tech to monitor and stop unauthorized activity on their network.
I’m thinking video camera’s in classrooms hidden. All the way around. I know its going to cost alot to install, but they don’t want to pay a few good IT techs and some upgraded equipment to monitor these children and keep them safe from preditors at school. The teachers would be safer as well as students if they were under video. Then teachers could as well as principals can monitor videos when there is a complaint or a child doesn’t appear to be engaged in his/her assignment. I would think a good teacher can tell if a student is participating in a class or playing an online game or chatroom.
Keep security, add layer of security and then another layer of security. Security camera’s are picking up alot it seems.
It’s OK, the government provided it so it’s an entitlement.
I guess kids still need supervision after all.
Busy Bodies….
I don’t care that the kids are abusing their computer privilages. That’s what kids do, push boundaries. What disturbs me is that it was necessary to name both of the daughters in this article as “adopted”. As an adoptee I found that disturbing, as would have the wonderful people who made me their own and gave me a better life.
they also need to be fixed alot. they get dropped,scratched, broken, ect. break open your checkbook and pay a bit more so someone else doesn’t have to.
This has been a huge complaint of mine for years. I regularly work at a downeast High School- also NHS- and the kids there have no blocking on the laptops at all….they can do whatever they please. Its ridiculous. Kudos to this parent and child for bringing it to the public’s attention.
How naive can a person be. Give a student a laptop and do you think they will use it only for school related stuff? Come on now!
Wow.
Once again public policy decisions being guided by reactionary thinking and no evidence.
Here’s an amazing solution……pencil and paper………laptops for homework in study hall. Surely, every teenager in Maine has a laptop at home to cover that anyway. Get rid of them!
No not every home in Maine has a laptop.
Well, every school has a library, don’t they?
Subject: [bdn] Re: Mother, daughter claim Noble High School students using school laptops to go on Facebook, make videos and watch porn
Who didn’t see this coming when Apple sold our former governor on the idea of a laptop in every desk/backpack/home? Vastly expensive program which could have been set up with monitored computer labs in the schools. Style, but no substance — and now — this!
Sad part is no one uses Apples in the real world in industry, I am an Engineer and laugh at GOv Kings wasteful legacy. Neighbor is a teacher in local middles school, laptops have about 30% casualty rate and system spends more time and money chasing parents to pay up for all the damaged laptops. It is really a stupid idea, should have labs and let parents pay for jrs laptop.
I get that the students of today need to be familiar with computers in order to be competitive and adaptable in today’s world. Is it really necessary that they have the computers in class at all times? I’m truly asking the question – I’m 33 so I’m sure if I had to go back to high school right now it would seem like an alien planet to me, especially in terms of how technology is integrated into the education process. We had a computer lab and the school paper had a bank of computers, but that was it. This was at the time when PC’s were just become affordable to the middle class, so not everybody had a computer at home. And laptops cost as much as a house (or so it seemed) so only those with a lot of $$$ or whose parents had a job that issued them one ever got to use one.
What is such a waste of taxpayer money is that the parents should provide the damn Laptop.
Then Jr can use it in class. Any people who cant afford one should be forced to fill out forms to prove it. Go to any school and just watch all kids entering the school. 99% have cell phones.
If they can afford the cell phone and monthly fee, mommy and daddy can afford to pay for the laptop.
Also since we have wasted all this money on laptops, want to bet the test scores continue to go down proving that the laptops have done nothing but be a creative waste of money and resources.
If somebody can afford a free track phone and a $20 card then they can afford a $1000 laptop? What school taught you those math skills?
Excuse me but most have the latest Iphone etc with full blown plans, 4G, texting etc etc scene it at our local school, you need to open your eyes, where did you learn your observation skills?
“Most have the latest iPhone…” How could you possibly know this or what their plans are? And there is NO 4G on any iPhone!! I observe things. You make things up out of thin air to support your flimsy argument. Scene it at your skool, eh?
Children in school and nephews and nieces, infuriates me when my kids ask for fancy plans and damn I-phones etc. Talk to other family members and it is same non-sense. You need to get a clue. Point I made is most laptops are 400$ at most and schools do not need to supply these, if parents can afford cell phones, they can afford laptops. Most people have computers at home so dont need them anyway. OF course the schools should just tell the state beurocrats, no thanks we have a computer lab and we dont need to waste taxpayer money on something that has failed to raise test scores.
Another failed mandate from the arrogance in Augusta!
MONITOR LAP USAGE IN SCHOOL!!! & @HOME!!
It’s almost as if someone should be teaching these children how to live properly, such as how to user the internet. Who is responsible for their upbringing?
Gee, I used to doodle porn with a pencil and paper. We’ve come a long way.
duh!?!?!? I have a neice and nephew who 8 years ago were going on-line in junior high school and in some cases encouraged by teacher to do so and teacher went on line as well – it’s not a good thing – these lap tops are a good tool but must be utilized properly and not used a ‘time fillers’ for lazy instructors.
“Cheryl’s two daughters were adopted with court orders set in place to disallow communication between them and their biological parents. According to Cheryl, Vanessa was not only uploading videos to YouTube.com but researching the location and contact information for her biological mother. When Cheryl found out about the videos, Vanessa, who was 18 and legally an adult, left Noble and went to live with her biological mother — all because she was able to use her school computer to discover her mother’s location, Cheryl asserts.”
I wonder if this is part of the issue. i am not sure why she was taken from her parents, but she obviously wanted to go back. She was 18, so if she chose to live her mother, it was her choice.
So maybe the problem is not so widespread, but it should be easy to change the “teacher” passwords. With the cell phones nowadays, you do not need the laptop to upload videos. I am not sure I would spend a lot of money on the “problem”.
Instant Message is the new spitball.
Give a kid a laptop and an Internet connection in class and what do you think they’re going to do?!
I hear a disgruntled parent in this article, not a real concern for children. I would wager that this parent always has something to complain about, and is never satisfied with any remedy. The problem with adults and technology is that we are in a different world than our children, and we try to think through the problem with old fashioned ideas. The fact is that students live in a technological based world, and it’s not going to change. We need to stop trying to manage every minute of their day and every action they take. Instead, we need the tools and the freedom to design instruction that is engaging, via technology. The tools must be an imperative. Students need to be instructed in an environment of responsibility and accountability. It is never going to work if you just manage and punish. That model leaves all of the responsibility in the hands of the teachers, which is the wrong place. The trick is to make sure that the kids hold the responsibility and that THEY are accountable. Stop viewing teachers and schools as the source of the problem and as the only solution. The students are the ones who are responsible for their actions and they should be the solution. I’d ask the student body to establish guidelines, without adult input, and see what you get. I’ll bet that the kids can create and manage an effective accountability system, because they understand the dynamics involved. Also, it’s time to get more digital natives into teaching positions. We old timers rarely understand the way that digital natives think.
I understand completely how they think. I guarantee that I am more tech savy than most of the younger people that i run into. Now maybe I can’t type/text as fast. And maybe I don’t twitter or facebook. But I could run circles around most when it comes to the actual knowledge . I do agree that there should be an accountability. To have the students set the guidelines though, is foolish.
The problem with the whole dependency on technology way of thinking is that sooner or later something fails. And then what? No critical thinking skills because these kids can’t function on their own without tech. And what’s wrong with punishment? The real world is a scary place and results are the only thing that matters.
Group hugs everyone. Everyone gets a trophy and a certificate just for showing up. Now isn’t that better?
Obviously a teacher. Pay your taxes, give us annual raises and step increases, and SHUT TF UP!!! Once again the myth that schools want involved parents is shattered.
Guidelines need to be set for the use of these computers provided by the schools. Students should be using them only for school work & research of school related assigned topics. Use of them for downloading music, videos, facesbook, Youtube, ect should be banned. Students & parents should be signing a contract specifying the proper use of these laptops, both in school & at home. To enforce this, the IT director should have the proper blocks put in place on the school network. To further enforce this when the computers are off school property, students should turn their computers in each month for a full hard drive inspection. Students may be able to delete their laptop history at the end of class, but their activity remains on the laptop hard drive & can be viewed by adminsitrators. SStudents that violate the rules would then have appropriate disciplanary action taken.
I don’t know a much about Macs, but in a Windows network environment it is plain simple to make a Group Policy and remove the student’s ability to erase their history.
My’s son uses his laptop in almost every class everyday as part of his instruction. The school he goes to is very good about checking up on what the kids are doing on the lap tops. Many sites are blocked (such as Facebook). The computers are checked randomly by the IT person, they can “erase” their history, but is never really gone, they can still see everything they have ever done on the computer, so they may not get caught immediately, but they will get caught. HOWEVER, my kids go to a very small school, I don’t know how a large school could possible monitor all computer use all the time, especially for high school aged kids. If a parent felt strongly enough about it, they can request that the computers not come home and that they be left at school. But realistically, almost every child has access to internet either through their phone, IPOD, friends house, computer, it is nearly impossible to monitor all use of technology, they are going to look up stuff that we don’t want them too! Even if the schools took away the laptop program (which I think is a horrible idea, technology is their future), they will still find ways to access the internet. I think as parents we just have to monitor the best we can, put parental controls in place on home computers, enforce any rules that you have in place, its a good idea to have all internet usage be done in the common areas of the home and not their bedrooms, check the histories on their devices that you can, and if you can afford it, take the computers in to an IT person and have the erased history checked, its in there trust me! After being caught once, and knowing that you can and will have it checked, they will be less likely to be looking up inappropriate stuff. Like anything else, we wont prevent all of it, but we can do the best we can:) If your school’s aren’t monitoring computer use enough, speak up, take your own child’s laptop in to the school IT and have it checked, make complaints to the school board, like other people have written there are ways for teachers to monitor the laptops, if they aren’t doing that SPEAK UP! Not sure Id go to the newspaper about it and make an outcast out of my child, but Id certainly be in the school making some noise!
whats the intranet?
Angus King for Senate :-)
Web Filters can be bypassed with proxies or tunneling which would not show up.
Most schools use Dynamic IP addresses within a certain range for laptops and computers.
Depending on the school there can be upwards of 6-700 computers, laptops, mobile devices on at the same time. Passwords are easy to get especially if teachers give them to “trusted” students who promptly give them to thier friends. Or they can just download password cracking software or use a boot disk to reset the password. In the case of macs without thier shortcut keys disabled you can go on the internet and literally find instructions on how to reset your computer’s admin password. For games and editing all you need to do is use a flash drive and there will be no trace on the actual computer….
Lets not forget they could just use thier own smartphone to completely bypass the school network…..
So in reality there isn’t much the school can do that a kid can’t find a way around.
Is anyone surprised? What a huge waste of money.
The laptop is the new pencil. You can’t just take them away and have students do the same learning as the rest of the group. Most of us passed a note in class, this is the new way to pass notes. If the older generation got caught passing a note did they take away their pencil and paper. In no way do I support misuse of technology but the answer is not as cut and dry as most think.
Make the Teachers teach.. And as for surfing porn, well if you put a bowl of fruit in a room it’s going to get eaten.. Only in North Korea do they prevent surfing the web or talking on cell phones.. I’m sure there are some who would like our country run like Korea, mostly Obama voters through…
Obama and the Evil Big Government are coming to get you!!! Watch out!!! Sleep with one eye open, rifle loaded and clenched tightly to your quivering body in some remote log cabin down a dirt road in Holden…
Ah the conservative logic. “I hates me some big guhvmints! Now let’s outlaw everything I don’t agree with!”
At the school I attend the laptops are used only for educational purposes. Things like this use to go on until there was a stop put to it. Many sites on the schools firewall are blocked, search history is ALWAYS being monitored. Sites that us as students are not to be allowed on and somebody goes on to it, it might take a few days but they always end up blocking that site. If anyone has a laptop opening during class we are asked nicely to take care of it. I do not see why these school is having such trouble with this stuff. It seems as if the school officials do not care about it.
So now we want the school to spy on our kids and find out what they are doing. Seems to me that is the parent’s job. If this parent found out what was happening, then any other parent can and should be monitoring what their kids are doing on the computer. Have the kids use their computer in the living room or family room instead of in their own room. Parents should check out their kids music videos and their video games as well.
Stop expecting the government to raise your kids for you. After all they are your kids and your legal responsibility. Sure its is hard,but it has always been hard to raise a kid into a decent human being, but it is the parents most important job. If you are not willing to raise them, then don’t have kids. But stop expecting others to do it for you.
what did the parent expect?
They can probably watch porn on their laptops with dvd’s anyway. Plus most cell phones could access those sites.
Half of the schools in Maine are this way because local districts cannot afford the cost of a REAL tech person/department. As long as everyone continues to hold on to “local control” while not wanting to pay for the needs of a real productive school then these children will always come out of school learning half of what children in other states, with strong county seats, will know. There is far too many intellectually gifted children being looked past and robbed of chances they would have elsewhere. Most answer to that with “if you feel that way then move”, but it is never that simple and shouldn’t have to be. Mainer’s need to wake up and realize that there are only 1.3 million people in this state and half are probably making less than $20000 a year, this makes local schools an economic impossibility. It is time to pool resources and give these kids what they deserve. How come I have never read an article about how the social studies and science are no longer essential, how the gifted are being passed by because of lack of staff, or how high school students many times have classes that amount to nothing because the high school has to share teachers with the elementary school because of lack of funding? More than all of that, what is the problem with society that all of the above is okay with them?
So, in a nutshell, what you’re saying is we should cut taxes for the rich?
There is no teacher that works at noble with the last name hunter. sorry obviously shes lieing.
Teach your kids about life, real life, not imaginary utopian life. It’s a challenge to do this, but your kids need to know what is around them, so they won’t be left vulnerable and with no coping skills due to being overprotected and sheltered.
Big deal really!? Censorship is wrong, no matter what. I was in high school a few years back, yes you could get around blocks if you have some brains, big flippen deal! The majority of people go on fb or other benign sites.
Breathing down the neck of children will get you far….not
Monitoring like another school in the US did where they were spying on
the students at home with their webcams? Yeah, that is exactly what we
need.
Laptops allow students to access them at home. It is much cheaper and
practical to issue laptops over desktops. Students do not have access
to computer labs at schools after hours. They cannot skip class and go
to the computer lab. They have papers to type and research to perform.
…So what?
whatever happend to laptops onl to be used during study hall periods, or for classes that require computers? the teachers have the control to say “put your laptops away and open your books!” this should have been in the technology use agreement policy.. and if you break the policy.. bye bye laptop privelidges for a month..
Yes, in today’s ever changing technological landscape, I understand having children utilize lap tops to become acquainted with computers and their capabilities but whatever happened to the old saying, “If It ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Up until the computer age, children have been going to school and learning the old fashioned way without the need to take home lap tops or tablets or such things. Yes, have them as tools i n the classroom to become familiar with them but set up blocks to certain sites and use I.P. tracking in case they get around those blocks with a proxy server, basic security measures like businesses. Teachers can grade home work the old fashioned way after all, isn’t that how it was done in the old days.
Raise you children to know that porn is not an accurate depiction of human sexuality and is a poor place to get information, and raise them to know that pedophiles use the Internet to approach kids and that they should never talk to strangers or give out any personal information online. And then, if they are getting their school work done and have good grades, stop worrying about what else they can do on a school computer. The harder a parent tries to micro-manage a teenager’s life, the harder that teen will rebel. How about a little respect for your teen’s common sense? And if you’re teen doesn’t have common sense, who’s fault is that?
Omg blaming the computers for the kids behavior??!!! Creating that nanny state please oh please protect us from ourselves. Surprise surprise kids are going to be kids and make lousy decisions aren’t tge adults suppose to help them? Know the difference??
Yes. If kids want to cruise such sites, they should do it on computers provided by their families, not the taxpayers.
The state should never have gotten into the laptop business in the first place.
Really?? And who do u think are the taxpayers ?? Good god with attitudes like yours we will always be the backwater state waiting for the wood and manufacturing base to come back.
Computers are essential tools for any student in today’s world. The problem here is not with the tool, but with the administrators. We wouldn’t think of letting a student use a table saw without proper instruction, oversight, and applied safety measures, yet this is exactly the problem with how these essential tools are used in many classrooms today. The fact that each of my students has a laptop to use at all times allows me to differentiate and personalize instruction for the some 25 students of varying degrees of ability (and, yes, intelligence) in my classrooms. It gives them a window to a world they would never see or imagine from their limited perch in rural Maine. It “levels the playing field” for them and can make up for many shortcomings that budget cuts and lack of opportunity can create in our particular situation in Maine. Most of my students’ families just couldn’t afford to buy each of their kids a computer. Heck, most of the families in my community can’t even afford to heat their homes. This is precisely where the state should step in.
Again, the problem is with administrators who just don’t seem to “get it.” Simply filtering sites does not work. Students can get around these blocks easily, and more importantly, perfectly appropriate sites are blocked along with the “bad” ones. Like with the table saw, oversight and support is the key. I have been advised to have all the students turn their desks around so I could see their screens, have them close their laptops while I “lecture,” or just give up and go back to “regular” teaching. This represents total ignorance on the part of the principal under whom I work (one who sits in his office and reads the “paper” – digital BDN, usually basketball scores and articles – for most of the day, as far as I can tell). No wonder the students behave the same way. His door is usually open and every student on their way to the bathroom can see what a wonderful example he sets. Lovely!
Other commenters here have mentioned a number of “monitoring” products, even free ones. IT folks can trace histories (even “deleted” ones) if they care to. Monitoring takes little attention; it’s easy to see, even in your peripheral vision, one screen among 20 NOT on the screen they’re supposed to be on. These are the answers, not taking the tool away. The shop is the perfect metaphor. Try building a house with no power tools; of course, you can do it, but the contractor next door who can complete the job in one quarter the time and cost will certainly do better in the long run. Our students need these to succeed, but they need administrators who actually keep up with contemporary trends and teaching methods more, and it’s only involved parents who can oversee that particular problem. It doesn’t cost anything to just pay attention.
So let me get this straight. Liberals want to make it a right for girls to have free birth control (amnd abortions btw) while taking away boys rights to watch porn for free?
Ridiculous!
So the Girls and Boys are watching porn and making youtube videos on their laptops.. They do that on their phones. Whats new in this story except someone complaining??? Darn liberals want to shut down the internet, simaliar to a book burning I think..
Lets see now…..give a curious teen-ager a computer and free access to the world-wid-web. Please, give me a break, what do you think will happen? Learning how to use a computer is very important. Carrying a computer to class, all day long, is a bad idea. We have already taken away a childs ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide ( in their head) by giving them fancy calulators to do the work for them. I suggest schools get rid of the internet. Teach the students how to use the computer as a tool, not a source of entertainment. Let the parents provide the internet at home: If they wish….
A great tool for word processing. Sure wish I had it 50 years ago or more ! The internet for searches, links, etc can be incredibly informative. though I sense that the internet for research is almost TOO much info in an unstructured format. Kids don’t have the base of knowledge to support such a myriad of positions.
ATTENTION NON-TECH PEOPLE: Let me explain how this all really works.
Filtering only blocks known websites. It does not block unknown websites. There are new unknown websites every day. Some of these contain porn or other undesirable activity. There is very little a filtering service can do about the unfiltered site, until the filtering service is told by a human whistleblower/snitch to check the site and categorize/block it.
And do you think the people getting around the blocking will provide this information? No, it is up to teachers and staff to either catch students in the act (can be hidden simply by closing the window), or set up district wide monitoring of all web traffic and then some school employee has to sift through the millions of lines of logging information that is collected every day.
Also there is a thing called an “anonymizer” when websites are accessed through another remote computer, which obfuscates the source and makes the original page appear benign to the filter. Anything can be accessed through an anonymizer, even the worst content available. Any computer is capable of being an anonymizer. As with everything else, filtering services can block anonymizers, but only if it is known. Unknown new anonymizers pop up literally every day.
In summary, if they are really determined, your precious snowflake is probably watching porn on your home computer, even if you have Net Nanny on your home machine. There’s literally nothing you can do to prevent this, short of disconnecting from that Internet thing completely.
Most school tech managers already know all this, and still we filter anyway even though we know it is ultimately a futile effort against the truly stealthy and determined students. At least it looks like the school is trying to do something, and for that we are protected from blame because we are practicing Due Diligence. Is any filter perfect? NO. But we do try, anyway.
Good to know what kids are learning in school. WHY do teachers allow kids to even have their computers in class and be on them. Stupidity all the way around.
Why is anyone surprised?
This has been happening all the way up to college classes for awhile now. I’ve witnessed it many times.
It is also possible to put parental controls on the computers. I have them on my childrens. You can control when then can be turned on, turned off, how long they can be used and what sites they can access. I would think this could be done to each current computer, and would be set up with each new computer.
It is not difficult.
On an Apple product they are already installed in the more recent software.
Clueless school district: sign up for a free OpenDNS account, and block all that crap. If the I.T. department is competent in that district, they can not only block unwanted content, they can also set their routers to intercept all DNS requests so students cannot change DNS server addresses in the individual computers to get around this. (If I can do this on my home router, there is no excuse for not doing it in a K-12 district.) 40,000 schools already use it, as do many large corporations. It’s free for K-12 schools, IIRC. Administrators can allow the helpful content but block all of the bad categories; they can also blacklist/whitelist individual domains as needed.
I’m not with OpenDNS, but recommend it for all of my network-related clients.
You people are completely unaware of what really goes on. This is bad reporting; all the proper steps have been taken to prevent students from going anywhere they aren’t supposed to on the school network. The school network not only has a blacklist but also an internet filter which scans for keywords on websites and blocks them as well. If you haven’t heard, there’s such things as a proxy, which allow you to bypass the network’s safety features and go to any desired website. Not a single person has access to passwords to bypass security features on the laptops besides the school administrators. There’s over 1,000 students at the highschool and it isn’t humanly possible to monitor every single one over the course of the day; yet many people are caught and properly punished for their misuses of the laptop.—————— The only further security step that could be taken is a whitelisted server, however such an action would be highly impractical.
WOW kids use computer for Facebook and porn? The fact is that the best IT people out there are defeted by kids all the time. FYI a computer has a IP address nto a ISP very different things. As I stated for every roadblock a It dept puts up there are a line of folks ready to get around it.