School Board Votes To Keep Internet Filter District 81 Unanimous In Adopting Policy To Shield Students From Sex And Hate On Computers

Students cruising the Internet in Spokane schools can expect to encounter cruise control.

District 81 board members unanimously approved a policy Wednesday night to require Internet filtering - a system that censors pornography, hate speech and other controversial Web sites.

“It makes it a lot safer for staff and students,” technology director Joe Austin said.

Filtering has come under criticism from teachers who say it blocks too much information, such as Web sites about white supremacy and famous artwork involving nudes.

But administrators say monitoring Internet use is especially important with a spending plan in place for 4,000 or more new computers.

In the past, even kids doing legitimate research have stumbled across pornography. For instance, students using the keywords “teen jobs” in a search retrieved documents about teenagers and oral sex.

Spokane joins a growing number of schools in Eastern Washington and North Idaho that are using filters or considering them.

Students at Central Valley School District are adjusting to a filtering system. East Valley and Post Falls districts are checking out various filtering programs.

Coeur d’Alene School District isn’t looking at filters, but Tom Hobson, information systems director, suspects that debate is right around the corner. He expects the decision to be tough, with some teachers arguing against it.

“There’s probably 8,500 different opinions out there. It’s going to be a huge issue, I believe.”

Schools shouldn’t expect filtering to solve their problems, said Bob Fitch, who manages Central Valley’s information systems. With so many new Web sites going online daily, some slip through the filters.

“There will be occasionally a few cracks in the dike,” Fitch said. “We do have students who try to find every crack in the dike there is.”

Also, students will continue to encounter inappropriate Web site titles, Fitch said, even though filters will keep them from investigating the sites.

When one teacher asked kids to research animals on the Internet, a wide-eyed boy raised his hand and said, “Look at this!” He’d discovered a site on bestiality.

“It’s frustrating, because these sites seem to proliferate faster than anything,” Fitch said.

In Post Falls, close supervision has been the key to keeping kids from inappropriate sites, said technology coordinator Jon Wilkerson.

But the district is shopping for filtering software as a precaution, he said. “I suppose our luck could run out.”

Where there are filters, there will be cries of censorship, the educators agree.

“The main concern is we’re not in the business of censoring,” said Jerry Etchison, technology curriculum coordinator at the East Valley School District. “But it is in a sense a business of protecting.”

Spokane educators had considered giving teachers a code so they could bypass the filter system in select cases, perhaps when studying racism or sexually transmitted diseases.

But for now, they decided against such exceptions, Austin said.

Spokane schools recently began using a filtering system supplied by N2H2 Inc., a Seattle-based company. The policy adopted Wednesday requires a filter remain in place.

The new policy also prohibits students from using e-mail that isn’t supplied by the district and forbids students from introducing viruses to school computers.

Beginning next year, Spokane parents who don’t want their children to use the Internet must sign statements to that effect.

FILTERED Spokane schools recently began using a filtering system supplied by N2H2 Inc., a Seattle-based company. The new policy requires a filter remain in place.