by Tommy Dickman and Brock Fortman

Students and teachers alike have been affected by restrictions within the school networks whether it be websites, images, or even advertisements. This is because of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), legislation from the Federal Communications Commission implemented to try and create a safer internet in schools and libraries.

Access to media for reports or presentations is highly restricted. This online newspaper is barred from using stock image companies like Getty Images. The district server blocks pages that may be viewed as inappropriate, or restricts media on websites like YouTube. In turn, this can affect a teacher’s lesson plan causing the teacher to take up class time to alter their plans. Restricting access to some media like misinformation is important, but students were frustrated when Spotify became unavailable on school networks this year.

The district has banned a student favorite, cool math games, mainly due to students playing games in class rather than participating. Students’ access to video games has been taken so far as blocking searches with the words “unblocked” or “game(s).”

You may have noticed that when on any wifi offered at BHS that Snapchat and TikTok will not work due to the lewd content that can be sent over Snapchat and potentially seen on TikTok.