Schools Seek Safe Surfing> Administrators want some control over Internet use

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When Hermon High School students began surfing the Internet last year, a few of them waded into objectionable material, gawking at pornographic images and offensive language on their school’s computer screens.

In order to prevent a flash flood of similar problems, Hermon High decided to shut down student access to the electronic superhighway and worked on an Internet-use policy last summer. With the policy now in place, Hermon students are again using the Internet.

Hermon High is not alone in its efforts to restrict access to inappropriate material on the Internet, as several local schools are beginning to test the waters of this high-tech world.

“We’re not going to get caught up in that swamp,” said Robert Ervin, assistant superintendent for Bangor’s schools.

In addition to the wealth of academic material that can be found on the Internet, Ervin acknowledged that there is offensive material out there and the school system is taking steps to keep that material from appearing on classroom computer screens.

“We’re going very slow on this,” Ervin said.

Bangor students will have wide access to the Internet in the near future, but not until an Internet use policy is implemented. Ervin said Bangor administrators are working on the specifics of that policy.

“We certainly like the idea of what it can bring to our students,” the Bangor school official said of the Internet. “We’ll put the safeguards in, and we’ll do the education and we’ll see what happens.”

In SAD 22, school officials will soon find out if the district’s new Internet policy will keep students in line when its system goes on line.

“We want to make sure that we lay the groundwork well, inform the students, inform the parents, and then move into it very methodically,” said Richard Lyons, superintendent in SAD 22.

Lyons said SAD 22 has been working on an Internet policy for about a year, and the policy was adopted by the school board on Aug. 7. He expects the Internet to be accessible at Hampden Academy, the Reeds Brook School in Hampden, and the Samuel L. Wagner Middle School in Winterport this month.

“I think the strength of ours is adopting a policy prior to implementation,” Lyons said of SAD 22’s Internet policy.

Before students sit down in front of computers to ride the electronic superhighway, the superintendent said, they will need to review the policy with a faculty member. Students and their parents will have to sign an access form stating that the student will abide by policy standards.

“We view the Internet as a privilege for students and not necessarily a right,” Lyons said.

According to this policy, Internet users may research assigned classroom projects, send electronic mail, and explore other computer networks. They are not allowed to use impolite or abusive language, send or receive offensive messages or pictures, change files that do not belong to them, send or receive copyrighted materials without permission, or give their password to anyone.

Computer system administrators will have access to all user accounts and electronic mail. Faculty members also will supervise students as they use the Internet.

“The intent of the policy is to make people very aware that obviously there are disadvantages,” Lyons said.

“We need to make sure that we execute this properly, and if for some reason there are any improprieties, then there may be disciplinary action taken,” he said, explaining that most likely would mean the student loses Internet access privileges.

The Old Town school department has developed an Internet policy that is somewhat similar to the one in Hampden, but Old Town plans to go a step further in regulating access.

Richard Beaudoin, computer coordinator for Old Town’s schools, said software will be used that can limit the material accessible by students. CyberPatrol, for example, can keep sexually related material out of computer labs.

Beaudoin admits that such software can pose problems for teachers. If everything related to sex is blocked, he explained, health teachers may not be able to use the Internet to benefit lesson plans involving sex education.

“We’re wrestling with that problem,” Beaudoin said.

The computer coordinator said he hopes to have the Internet up and running at schools this month. He said he has not heard any parents voice concerns about the Internet.

“We really don’t know at this point whether it’s even going to be a problem,” he added.

If students do attempt to access inappropriate material, Beaudoin said, Internet restrictions can always be intensified.

“We’ll shut the darn thing down,” he said.

Bryan Little, a senior at Hermon High, said he used the Internet to get an A on a physics term paper last year. He gathered information about black holes and was able to give a slide show in class with images he discovered on the Internet.

The 18-year-old added that he spends about 20 hours a week in front of a computer and plans to study computer engineering after high school. Despite Internet policies and blocks, Little said, he believes that if students are determined to get at pornographic material on the Internet, they will find a way.

“If you really want to, the possibility still exists,” Little said.

Many administrators agree that although Internet-use policies define the guidelines, there also has to be a sense of trust among teachers, parents and students.

“Does everybody stop at the stop sign?” Ervin said.