By ETHAN HARTLEY Technological discussions took focus at a special meeting of the Warwick School Committee Tuesday evening at Warwick Vets Middle School, including an update on cybersecurity measures within the district and the first passage of a policy
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Technological discussions took focus at a special meeting of the Warwick School Committee Tuesday evening at Warwick Vets Middle School, including an update on cybersecurity measures within the district and the first passage of a policy that would enact an outright prohibition of the use of cell phones during the entire school day.
The meeting began with a short presentation announcing the upcoming showing of “Screenagers,” a documentary film that explores the effect that cell phones, laptops, video games and other electronics – and the tremendous amount of “screen time” spent on these devices – are having on younger generations. The film will be screened at Winman Middle School on Monday, May 20 from 6-8 p.m. A question and answer period at the family-friendly event will follow.
“I would like to see Screenagers at every secondary school, not just one,” offered school committee member David Testa.
Approved unanimously for a first passage Tuesday night was a change to the district’s policy on cell phone usage within schools. The change would strengthen restrictions on cell phone use during the school day and enable schools to confiscate the phones of students that disobey the policy.
“The Warwick School Committee recognizes the impact that advances in technology can have on education; however, they also recognize that inappropriate use of personal cellular phones and other technology devices during instructional time can often disrupt student learning,” the policy reads. “Cell phones and all other personal electronic devices must be turned off and kept out of sight during school hours unless otherwise directed by individual teachers or administrators in their classrooms.”
The policy goes further to identify specific scenarios how “personal electronic devices” may not be utilized, including:
Causing disruptions through ringtones, beeping or other sounds; photographing, recording or filming others without consent; recording a disruption on campus that could be used to degrade, threaten, intimidate or dehumanize the person(s) involved; taking pictures in private areas such as locker rooms, counseling sessions or restrooms; sending pornographic or inappropriate messages; using phones to receive or send academic information for cheating purposes; or to bully, humiliate, harass or intimidate any “school-related” individuals or violate local or state laws.
“Violation of this policy will result in disciplinary action up to and including confiscation of the personal device,” the policy concludes. “Office phones are available for emergency use.”
School committee members voiced full approval of the initiative but were cautious to ensure that everybody in the district was informed and in agreement with the policy before it is slated to begin, which they mentioned wouldn’t likely be until the beginning of the next school year this upcoming fall.
“The other thing I think we need to do is educate parents about this too,” Testa said. “This says during school hours, which means in between classes as well. It's important that everybody is on board - building level administrators are on board, teachers are on board. Teachers are the first line here. If a teacher reports this and there's an objection and they're not supported, then the policy is not worth the paper it's written on. We have to be very focused and very consistent here.”
“We really need to make sure every school is on board and doing this,” agreed committee vice chair Judy Cobden. “It's not an optional policy for a school to do it or not to do it. It's going to be done.”
Superintendent Philip Thornton said that it would be crucial to roll out the policy simultaneously with an educational campaign explaining why the district is moving in this direction.
“This is going to be a change,” he said, adding that districts have heard debates in the past about whether schools have the authority to confiscate personal property from students during the school day.
“I think we would argue, yes [we do have that authority], as long as you had a situation where there was a procedure to retain the phone and at the end of the day give it back to the student or a parent,” Thornton said. “We have to have a clear guideline on how we would do that.”
Warwick Public Schools Technology Director Doug Alexander then provided an update on cybersecurity within the district, and the challenges associated with keeping the district safe from outside threats while simultaneously coping with the responsibility to keep students safe from their peers and even themselves.
“As you've probably heard unless you're living under a rock, cybersecurity is an area that is really blowing up in terms of the threats that exist out there in the world and the internet against all of our devices – anything that's connected,” Alexander said.
Speaking in terms of attacks from the outside, Alexander warned that cyber attacks have grown increasingly common in the past few years – showing a map that highlighted incidents at K-12 districts across the United States – and that such attacks have indeed occurred on multiple occasions in Warwick in recent times.
One of these incidents – a “whaling” attack – occurred in 2018 and involved an attempted information grab where a phisher posed as a principal and asked vaguely if teachers had availability to discuss something further. Alexander said the attempted intrusion was thankfully “amateurish” but could have resulted in stolen personal information or financial information nonetheless, and also showed that Warwick is as susceptible to these types of attacks as anywhere else.
“People are the weakest point in this entire chain,” he said. “They are the easiest to exploit and the easiest to fool into giving up information. We're all vulnerable to this.”
Alexander said that the district was already taking measures against cyber attacks, including constantly patching the network to keep up to date against new means of attacks and screening the email system to automatically filter out suspicious messages. He mentioned potentially working with other vendors to increase security, but no concrete proposals were presented Tuesday night.
“Each year attacks get more varied and sophisticated,” he said. “We think we know what the kinds of attacks are and just when we think we know...the bad guys come out with newer and more clever ways to get us.”
However, security goes further than preventing tragedies coming from outside forces in today’s society. As schools have transitioned to providing laptops to schools – as Warwick’s secondary schools have moved to full one-to-one Chromebooks – an unforeseen challenge has arisen with that endeavor.
“There are substantial liability and privacy issues around these that need to be resolved, and that's pretty much exactly what schools and the industry are grappling with right now,” Alexander said.
He is referring to how the schools can, and do, monitor the online activity of the students who utilize the Chromebooks. Sometimes, unfortunately, this reveals instances where students have posted threatening messages to other students, or posted concerning messages that indicate they may be in danger of harming themselves. Alexander said that the district has “saved more than one child from themselves” through this type of monitoring.
Alexander said that they could potentially expand the monitoring to be even more comprehensive and cutting-edge through a Security Operations Center that would monitor the network around the clock, allowing them to potentially help more students who need psychologically or social intervention. However, this quandary comes with much additional necessary exploration.
“If we can know that a student is at risk, when does that turn off? And does it ever?” he questioned. “Are we always liable for kids even on weekends and breaks and summers? There are a lot of difficult questions.”
8 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
PaulHuff
Hopefully these $800 phones don’t get damaged when they are taken by a teacher. Sounds like a liability for the teacher personally and for the district as a whole.
Perhaps the School Committee can focus on more important things like the condition of the schools or the fact that the students test so poorly because of lousy teachers.
Thursday, March 28, 2019 Report this
ginaa
I am a teacher in Warwick and collect phones in my class because students were setting off the high pitched tones and disrupting other students. I do not touch the phones. I have a case with cushioned slots and the students place them in and see they are secured in front of the classroom. The first week was a tough transition for them to let go. Now if they don’t see the case open when they first walk in they ask if I am collecting phones. It has helped in the classroom and with instruction. They are disconnected for 50 minutes and not getting in trouble. Last year, a teacher used a shoe hanger and students were assigned pockets for them to put their phones. This way again the students see their phones and no one touches them but them. I know phones are life lines for parents and work and feel this works best for all. I do not want to take a students phone for the day or a week. We live in a technological world and times have changed. I know other districts let them use phones during lunch.
Thursday, March 28, 2019 Report this
Happy
I applaud that this is recognized as a growing concern.
I am busting a gut laughing so hard that the SC thinks it will work!
Let's look at a couple of facts here and I challenge anyone to say I'm wrong! First and foremost children are addicted to these devices, that is a fact we can all agree on.
Next, if anyone thinks that "every" teacher will be on board with this I need some of what your taking!
Now let's look at the cost and potential liability here. Phones are now over the $1000 price tag and growing. If a phone is confiscated and later found to not be operating properly do you really think that the student, and parents, are "not" going to blame the teacher?
Hell, if my child's phone was not working properly I would tell them to "LET" the teacher grab it and take my chances in small claims court for a free $1000 phone! I'm sure the teacher has a protocol to follow to ensure the phone is in good working order when confiscated and has a check-off list to follow and maintain in case a trip to court is required?
Now for all the non-believers out there in never-never land think of this, we have a law in place which makes it illegal to use a cell phone while driving, correct? How many mommies and daddies do YOU see driving using cell phones? The police CAN'T fix that, but, yes, the TEACHERS can? What planet are you from?
When some of the teachers leave school for the day they are probably the first ones on their phones as they drive by the students!
Oh yea, we will be tougher on the teachers too? I have to see that language in their contract!
Friday, March 29, 2019 Report this
chrisp1968
I'm for this. Reason is that it will teach our kids throughout their youth that life goes on without the smartphone. I think that lesson will help prevent addiction/dependency on the phone and internet and allow them to learn how to balance access with individualism. As teacher has said, it also benefits the classroom. I think probably greatly. Students can forget about whatever else, and really engage the lesson in front of them. Their only peer engagement during the no-phone hours will have to be face to face and personal. I think today's youth have atrophied as far as personal engagement with other actual flesh and blood humans. For all these reason's this sounds like a good idea to me. It will also be good to assess in a year as to the benefits.
Friday, March 29, 2019 Report this
Cat2222
Valiant effort but it isn't going to be successful. The office phones that can be used in case of emergency is usually monitored by someone that doesn't think a students emergency translates into a real emergency. Or if a child is sick and goes to the nurse and the nurse gives them a cup of ice water and sends them on their way even though they are really sick. Hurt during PE class and the PE teachers laughs it off and tells you to run 5 laps for being a wuss. A bullying situation where everyone knows a student won't go to the administration due to the consequences. The school has no way to prove one way or another the phone wasn't damaged while in their possession. Also, will teachers also be required to keep their phones locked up? Because as most students know, there are always a handful that do have them out in the classroom. Active shooting scenario? Students have been able to text their family and police regarding the situation while inside the school.
So many flags will pop up and so many parents will fight back (in or out of court) that it won't be a long-term solution. This is a can of worms better not opened.
Friday, March 29, 2019 Report this
Jenn1000
When our girls were attending High School in Texas, cell phones weren't an issue because a fine had to be paid if the phone was taken from your child. The phone wasn't given back until the fine was paid. The first fine was $15.00, then $25.00 and so on......An agreement was signed at the start of school, so nobody could argue against the punishment if caught.
Sunday, March 31, 2019 Report this
GoodJake
This day in age unfortunately with threats every other week it seems, and school having early dismissal due to power failure (Tollgate) it's nice that our kids can reach out if they have to. How about we deal with a bigger problem like how non vaping, non trouble making kids can't use the bathrooms. The bathrooms are full of kids hanging out sitting on the floor vaping basically not allowing anyone to use the bathrooms for what they are for.
Sunday, March 31, 2019 Report this
perky4175
no one under the age of 18 should be allowed to have one the should also be banned in public
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 Report this