From iPads and laptops to apps and Apple TVs, technology significantly impacts the way today's students learn.
Barstow is a leader in adopting new technologies and integrating them into our curriculum so they enrich the learning experience, rather than define it. Our faculty participates in ongoing professional development and shares innovative tools and programs with students so they can access and apply every available resource.
One of our school-wide goals is technology integration and support in every grade and every classroom. Teachers set and achieve yearly technology goals with support from a team of experts.
Technology Quick Start Guide
Reliable access to technology and readily available assistance is an important part of ensuring student success. Our technology team helps students and families with initial device set-up and provides ongoing support.
Device requirements: iPad or iPad Pro, minimum 64GB, recommended AppleCare+ (or third party accidental damage insurance), and able to run the latest iPadOS.
Barstow uses Securly Filter as a web-content filtering service to help provide students with safe, appropriate Internet access and to meet the school’s responsibility to protect students while they are using technology for school.
Securly Filter is not remote-access software. It does not give Barstow or Securly the ability to remotely control a student's device, turn on its camera or microphone, view stored files stored, read text messages or watch what a student is doing on the screen.
Barstow is using Securly Filter for Internet content filtering. It allows us to block categories of inappropriate or unsafe websites and specific sites that should not be accessible to students. It also provides information about web activity necessary to administer and troubleshoot the filtering system. Barstow is not using Securly Filter as a general-purpose student surveillance tool.
When internet traffic is being filtered, Securly can identify web activity needed to make filtering decisions and create filtering reports. Depending on the type of traffic and configuration, this can include information such as websites or URLs visited, searches, and other web-request information.
This is different from having access to everything on the device. Securly Filter is examining Internet traffic subject to filtering, not opening and searching through the contents of the computer or iPad.
Much of today's Internet traffic is encrypted using HTTPS. A trusted certificate allows the filtering system to properly identify and filter encrypted web traffic.
Installing the certificate does not itself give Securly remote control of the device and does not provide access to the camera, microphone, local files, or home network.
No. Installing the Securly certificate does not give Barstow or Securly access to other computers, medical systems, work computers, printers, smart-home devices, or other equipment on a family's home network.
The certificate is used in connection with filtering Internet traffic from the student device.
Middle school iPads are enrolled in Barstow's Jamf mobile-device-management system with parent permission. Barstow therefore manages the school configuration of these iPads and can deploy the settings necessary for Securly filtering.
Middle school iPads are filtered both at school and away from school, including when they are connected to a home Internet connection.
Filtering school-managed middle school iPads away from campus is intentional and is consistent with Barstow's previous practice of filtering these devices outside of school.
Upper school students bring their own laptops, so the configuration is different.
On campus, an upper school student's device connects to Barstow's student network. Barstow uses Securly SmartDNS and the Securly certificate to provide appropriate filtering while the student is using the US Student network.
When an upper school BYOD laptop leaves Barstow and connects to the student's home or another outside network, Barstow's SmartDNS filtering is no longer being applied.
The presence of the Securly certificate does not cause Barstow to filter the student's Internet connection at home.
Traditional network filtering can block many websites and services, but modern Internet traffic is increasingly encrypted and cloud-based. Securly provides more effective filtering and categorization designed specifically for K–12 environments. It also gives Barstow a more consistent way to apply appropriate Internet-access policies to students.
Possibly. No filtering system categorizes every website perfectly. We have already adjusted our configuration when legitimate educational or appropriate sites were unnecessarily blocked. If a student encounters a site that appears to be incorrectly categorized or blocked, we want the student to report it to their Division Director so we can review it.
Securly Filter does not give Barstow access to the contents of a student's device or personal accounts simply because Securly is installed. There is an important distinction between filtering a student's request to access an Internet service and having access to the student's account or information stored within that service. For example, Securly may recognize that a device is attempting to reach a social-media or streaming service so that Barstow's filtering rules can allow or block it. That does not mean Barstow has access to the student's private messages, account password, photo library, or locally stored content.
Like other enterprise web-filtering systems, Securly maintains filtering and activity information that allows authorized school personnel to administer the system, investigate filtering problems, and address appropriate school-related concerns. Access to this information is limited to authorized personnel and is not intended for routine observation of students' personal activity.
No. For upper school personally owned BYOD laptops, Barstow's Securly SmartDNS filtering applies while the device is using Barstow's network and does not follow the laptop home.
middle school iPads are different because they are school-managed through Jamf.
As has historically been the case with Barstow's middle school iPad program, internet filtering remains active when those managed devices are used away from campus.
Barstow's purpose in implementing Securly Filter is straightforward: We are using it to provide appropriate internet content filtering for students; not to remotely access or control their devices.
We also recognize that families deserve to understand what technology is installed on student devices and what it does. We will continue to review our configuration, correct inappropriate blocking when it occurs, and communicate clearly about how our filtering systems are being used.