Websites blocked due to Chromebooks being unable to push out more updates has caused issues for classes and UIL Academics.
“Because of the security that schools must provide for student devices, the filter is strong and difficult to sidestep,” UIL coordinator Judith Ann McGhee said. “Because of this (understandable) obstacle, lots of news sites have been blocked this year.”
If the blocked message says it is from ContentKeeper, it is because the Chromebooks are no longer updating which allows browser cache to build up, causing more traffic in browsers.
“The Tech department is unable to “push” updates onto our chromebooks any more this school year and with fewer updates, we have less efficiency,” McGhee said.
Students can fix some of these issues by resetting their profile and clearing the browser cache.
“When users never log off, clear their cache, or reset their Chrome profile, it will become corrupted just like if it were a regular desktop computer,” district network administrator Kristen Kepler said.
If the blocked message says “lhs_student” then that website has been blocked by the filters and administration. They block any adult content, social media, games and A.I.
“Some are to make sure the learning environment is not being impacted and others are to protect and secure our network and data,” Kepler said. “If the site in question is truly a site for educational purposes, it only needs to be requested to be allowed.”
For UIL Speech and Debate, UIL does not allow the use of the internet in its events. Therefore, their chromebooks need to be super efficient for competing
“Without access to basic information, we are put behind the curve for speaking events becases one of the most basic requirements for an extemporaneous speech is sources,” senior Phoebe Rounds said. “For this reason, if we don’t have access to news sources we can’t be successful.”
For district, speech and debate kids had to resort to using old sources that were already saved or relying on personal devices.
“It’s very frustrating to push my team to compete all year, and then the day of competition, we have a roadblock we must overcome,” McGhee said. “The good news is that this summer all of the chromebooks should be cleared and updated so they’ll be ready for school in August.”
