Students find ways to access porn at schools

By TED SULLIVAN Chronicle Staff Writer

Kids might be accessing pornographic Web sites in the last place their parents would think: Schools.

Despite filtering software that blocks inappropriate sites, personal logins that track a student's computer use and ways to search Internet histories, tech-savvy kids are finding ways around the rapidly changing technology, local school officials said.

Students can use outside computer networks, known as proxy servers, to access blocked Web sites, including pornographic material, school officials said. Other adult Web sites are disguised under false names and pop up when students make appropriate online searches.

Students at Three Forks High School have found ways around filtering software, Principal Tom Blakely said.

"Kids are smart,” he said. “No doubt about it. Every time we get a fix, they find their way around it.”

The problem was more prevalent when the school first began offering the Internet in classrooms, Blakely said. At that time, students found ways to access adult Web sites.

The high school has since updated its filtering software, Blakely said.

"We've got a lot of trust in our filters,” Blakely said.

But the rules are occasionally broken when the restrictive filtering software is turned off to allow students to do appropriate online research for assignments. When that happens, Blakely said, it's a case of the students violating a teacher's trust, rather than bypassing filtering software.

‘CAN'T BLOCK THEM ALL'

Belgrade High School also has caught a handful of students on adult Web sites in recent years, Assistant Principal Russ McDaniel said.

“We can't block them all,” McDaniel said. “(The students) are so tech savvy that even one of our computer techs commented on how fast these kids are learning stuff.”

Much like spam e-mail, it's hard to stop pornographic material from coming across a computer screen, McDaniel said. And kids enjoy pushing the limits.

“A lot of times that's the fun of it. They see a blocked site and they want to see if they can access it,” McDaniel said. “They're putting their knowledge to the test.”

‘NOT A HUGE PROBLEM'

Most of the time students inadvertently access adult Web sites when they're searching another topic, a common problem with hidden sites, Manhattan Schools Superintendent Jerry Pease said. In many of those cases, the students have reported it to their teachers.

“The kids have been good about taking care of it themselves, when they're someplace they don't want to be,” Pease said.

A few students, however, have accessed adult content on purpose, although that hasn't happened since the software was upgraded and continues to be upgraded annually, eliminating the dilemma.

“It's not a huge problem, but there are kids in every school system who will see what they can do,” Pease said. “We do have a pretty good filtering system here, but they're not perfect.

“Things change daily with this stuff,” Pease said. “It's a technology world.”

ENFORCING THE RULES

Kirk Miller, superintendent of the Bozeman School District, said the technology surrounding the Internet is changing rapidly, but teachers and administrators in his district have not reported students accessing inappropriate content online.

Nevertheless, school officials update the filtering software regularly - even daily, in some cases - and students have personal logins that show who is using the computer and at what time.

Teachers also monitor students on the Internet and can search Internet histories to see what kids have viewed, school officials said. And policies on the appropriate use of computers are in place.

When students break the rules, they are disciplined, depending on the severity of the offense, school officials said. Punishment ranges from a loss of Internet privileges, to suspension, to expulsion.

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