Comments on: APS Now on Social Media Websites

By: sedfrgy

sedfrgy — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:23:00 +0000

facebook is life

By: The goodest teechir

The goodest teechir — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 23:34:14 +0000

Me agree!

By: Neighbor

Neighbor — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:19:16 +0000

My ultimate concern is that most all of the teachers who have commented so far have made basic spelling and grammar mistakes.

By: Josh S

Josh S — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:49:56 +0000

First of all, it’s “get” a clue, not “catch” one.
Second, thankfully, teachers do not work straight through the day and actually do have breaks. It’s a very stressful job and having a few minutes here and there to veg out on ARLnow or whatever is important.
Third, “too lazy to manage your students’ behavior?” Unless you only have K-5 in mind, this statement is truly out of touch. Teenagers *will* find a way to get online.
Fourth, that said, I tend to agree that locking down sites is not the answer.

By: anne

anne — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:24:48 +0000

CIPPA is a federal law, not a state law, youtube is not covered under any VA law, PWCS does not block youtube anymore, what are you guys doing on Arlnow during the day? teaching now are you?

By: drax

drax — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:20:07 +0000

Teachers are not too lazy to manage student behavior on the web – they simply can’t. They don’t have time to look at every computer screen all the time, and they can’t possibly look at phones, etc. Don’t be such a snark.

By: APS teacher2

APS teacher2 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:12:43 +0000

It is mandated. Look it up. It is not hard to get the bypass from your ITC. I am pretty sure they are willing to give it to you. Now if you are using it to stalk people on facebook or watch music videos on youtube instead of the relevant teaching material, thats a different story.

By: JustLurking

JustLurking — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:59:48 +0000

When I worked at Yorktown, all you had to do was ask the kids for the password. They always knew.

By: MissKittenCat

MissKittenCat — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:34:26 +0000

Getting weekly bypass login from that one guy who has everything from extra hall passes to dvd’s
+
APS student computers not blocking proxy sites
+
having a smartphone with mobile data

= access to these sites

By: Another APS Teacher

Another APS Teacher — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:33:57 +0000

The irony of APS recognizing the value of these tools but making them hard for teachers to use is stunning. Yes, the federal government, as part of NCLB, requires school systems to have an internet filter in order to receive federal funding, but there is nothing stating *which* sites you have to filter. Other school systems, many, in fact, allow Facebook and Youtube, noting clear policy as to how these sites are appropriately used in an educational setting. Arlington has a new policy to this effect, but still makes it “difficult” for teachers to use the sites, with long, complicated passwords which change on a monthly basis. Are we really teaching the kids how to use the internet appropriately if we just block everything that ~~might~~ be a potential problem? No wonder Arlington schools, which were on the forefront of technology in the 1990s, is now universally laughed at as the “hopelessly behind the times” county.