By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

An overview of internet safety measures that Chilton County Schools has in place to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act was given during a meeting on May 2.

Technology coordinator Kim Arrington said she holds a CIPA meeting at least every two years. A meeting may be held more frequently if there are changes to the district technology plans.

Arrington said meeting CIPA requirements qualifies the school system to receive e-rate funding.

The Act requires school systems have measures in place to protect children while accessing the internet and using technology at school.

“It requires that we have an internet safety policy for the system and for the schools. We must enforce protection measures for all the students,” Arrington said.

While the policy at each school may differ slightly, there are some aspects that are required. These include “preventing user access to inappropriate material, preventing unauthorized access and other unlawful online activity and preventing unauthorized online disclosure of personal identification information of minors,” Arrington said.

Ensuring that students know how to stay safe on the internet is woven into multiple subjects.

“We don’t rely on one teacher at a school to cover all of this,” Arrington said. “Every teacher at every school should cover these things in their classrooms at some point in the school year.”

In addition to teachers covering content, students have access to additional activities and presentations. Some schools have assemblies and additional teaching opportunities.

Verification of this being taught is required for e-rate funding.

The school system partners with Alabama Supercomputer Authority to block obscene content, child pornography, gambling and other sites harmful to minors. ASA offers this for free to the school system.

Arrington said the student policy for using the school’s network is outlined in the Student/Parent Information Guide, which can be accessed at http://images.pcmac.org/uploads/sites/30/ChiltonCS/ChiltonCS/Divisions/

DocumentsSubCategories/Documents/Student_Parent_Guide_English-for_website.pdf on the Chilton County Schools district website. Students and parents sign a permission form regarding network usage.

Policies and protections are also in place to keep teachers and staff safe while using the internet and other technology at school. Teachers can access their student information from home, and sign a form stating they will keep students’ information confidential.

There is also a list of things teachers and staff should not do while accessing the internet through the school system’s network.

Social networking guidelines are also given to Chilton County Schools employees.