WISD Visitors - Technology - Student Internet Safety

Westbrook Schools believe in Technology for tomorrow.

Student Internet Safety

Westbrook Schools feel that providing a safe environment for students is a necessity for a quality education. The Internet presents new and specific concerns for safety. We would like to share some tips for teachers and parents on how to keep children safe when using the Internet at school or at home.

Children under thirteen, their teachers and their parents should visit the Internet Keep Safe Coalition web site iKeepSafe and review the information and games there. This site is designed to teach children how to keep safe while on the web. Internet predators are looking for children who are willing to communicate and meet with them. This is one of the reasons we do not allow chat-rooms to be used while at school. See below for a good set of guidelines on web surfing.

Safe Web Surfing

1. Make sure you and your children do not share personal information, like names, addresses, or telephone numbers with anyone online that you do not know personally.

2. Keep the computer in a family room, kitchen or living room, not in your children's bedroom.

3. Make rules and discuss them with your children, get them to agree to follow the rules and put the rules near the computer as a reminder.

4. Remember to monitor their time on the computer and make sure they follow the rules agreed upon.

5. Watch your children when they're online and see where they go.

6. Encourage discussions between you and your children about what they enjoy online.

7. Keep kids out of chat rooms or IRC's, unless they are monitored.

8. Get to know their 'online friends' just as you do all of their other friends

Teenagers & Young Adults

Once children become teenagers they expect the rules to relax. This is a difficult time for parents, and schools. At Westbrook we have implemented a very detailed permission form for student work and photos designed to allow parents the maximum flexibility with their children. You are the best judge of the maturity of your child. We encourage you to peruse our web site and see how we display student photos and work. Feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions you may have. For help with your teens and their use of personal web site builders, such as MySpace, you may check the US Postal Service's teen web site: http://www.2smrt4u.com./index.html