So both kids came home from school this week with a release form that kids and parents need to sign before they can use the internet at school for school work. It explained the safety risks, but my hesitation in signing the release is that if there are any problems/misuse of the internet at school by my first and third graders that parents are held financially and legally responsible. The release is in all adult terminology and I sat down with the kids to explain the release to them, but they just don't understand. Have any of you parents out there had problems with elementary kids using the internet at school which resulted in financial/legal penalties? Ex. Parents are financially liable for any investigation that would ensue due to inappropriate computer use.
Hi, I want to add that if they inadvertently go into someone elses acct(maybe the previous child doesn't log out properly), or if they inadvertently download a virus, it sounds like there are big legal and financial penalities. It's hard for me to say, yup I'll be completely financially responsible when I can't be there to supervise. I know the first site my son will go to is lego.com. I can tell him not to do it and that there will be consequences at school for this, but I know he's going to do it anyway.
Sweet mother, it isn't like the teacher leaves the room and signs them onto ebay! No, I have never had issues with signing the forms.
my M. ALWAYS signed mine, there where only a handfull of people i knew through out my whole school that werent allowed to use them
And today we will study stock trading. First you need to sign up for an account, everyone remember to bring in a check from mommy's checkbook.
We'll wire the funds and start day trading on Tuesday. Don't forget Tuesday is also our addition quiz. :)
Do you think your kids are gonna hack a Government website or rob a bank? You probably have nothing to worry about. If they were highschool age, then I might worry if I knew my kid was an internet freak already that he might try something dumb.
Your children's schools have some of the highest locks on their computers.
This is not the schools first rodeo. Your children will be fine.
Sign it and just explain to your children the computer at school is just like at home.. they can only be on the computer with the teachers permission, just like at home, they can only be on the computer with your permission.
I've been signing these for years! I was a little leery at first also, but once the kids got into school and they told me about "Computer Lab" I wasn't worried any more. Unless your kids are taking a hammer to the computer, I don't think there's much damage they can do. And if a virus gets thru, then that's the school's fault for not having enough protection, not yours.
It is very unlikely your kids will even have the opportunity to get on any sites that are not school related. The terminology they use on those forms is just a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo to cover their butts; in my opinion!
I had a talk with both my kids and told them to stick with school stuff or else they would probably get in trouble; they could play their games at home.
I would also instruct them to be sure the kids before them are signed out and to be sure and log off their own account when finished. That part of it IS something I drilled into my kids' brains!!!
We've never had any problems.
Good luck!!
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Schools usually have enough blocks in place that most kids won't be able to access anything they shouldn't. That's IN ADDITION to close, nearly constant supervision for kids that age. Heck, when I was a library aide in high school, the librarian would occasionally use HER computer to check what was going on with the other computers. They are all linked together, so that the school's staff ultimately has full control.
The paper is just a formality, JUST IN CASE something does happen. Who knows, maybe some genius kid will try to write a virus to infect the internet... and then that kid's parents will have to pay for the investigation... But if your kids are averagely computer literate, I wouldn't worry at all. :)
Not sure if this is the case with your school district, but my school district uses the same form for all grades from K-12. I'm sure this type of thing wouldn't really be directed towards your kids because in elementary school the teacher would be with them, but more towards middle and high school aged kids since they are given more freedom on when and where they can use the internet within the school.
relax! The school's safety nets are pretty sturdy.....
Take a breath... relax...
The paper is just a formality. I teach a lot in the elementary level and believe me, the computers are very restricted as far as internet use.
Your children will be fine.
Teachers show and tell the students exactly where to go online for research, etc. The schools are pros at making sure everything is secure.
I wouldnt worry about it well they are third graders, and schools keep the computers locked pretty well nowadays, and they block alot of websites too, especially highschoolers and middleschoolers. There's always someone who is in charge of the internet access so if a child isnt doing what they're supposed to be doing, there will be a monitor that will know whats going on. you dont need to worry.
No not at all they have computer lab,they won't be sent off to search the web,the misuse is if the child bangs on it or causing harm to it on purpose.They are guided as a group how to log in and out of the program they are using with their own user id and password
I really wouldn't worry about this. They tend to keep school computers on a pretty tight lock-down. Kids can really only access certain websites, and they're quite well supervised when they're in the computer lab anyhow. As long as your kids know how to treat a computer properly (no food or drinks near them, etc), I really don't think you need to worry about this.
I would refuse to sign and ask them what the other options are. That sounds like too much of a liability. GL
I do think this sounds a bit like "We want to put your kids in front of a computer and we're going to ignore them all day. If they go somewhere their not supposed to and something gets broken...well, you have to pay for it".
Now if the release stated that you would be liable if your child broke a piece of the hardware I can understand the issue. I can sort of understand if they get a virus and the whole IT team has to break down the system to fix it.
BUT, and that is a BIG BUT, they should be watching them, they should have proper nanny controls on the content of what the kids are looking at, AND I got a virus from going to a page that was linked from here. So if "I" can get a virus from someplace like this what kind of a virus might they get from just going somewhere normal too.
I think I would have second thoughts about it too. Then at the next school board meeting I would bring up the issue that I mentioned before. Just who is putting them on the world wide web then going off and allowing them to go anywhere they want.
I'm trying to figure out why a 1st grader or even a 3rd grader, really, would need to be on the world wide web during school hours. Sure there's educational stuff online, but all the great teachers I know utilize stories and hands on activities in their teaching- not computers - with the early grades. Now a 6th grader researching Rome online for a group project....sure. Either way I would talk with the teachers and ask exactly what they are doing with the internet. If it's just a free time choice filler, your children would be better off doing something else anyways. They can play on the computer at home. :)
