For the past three school years, CVSD students have been provided an iPad, Chromebook, or laptop for use during the school day and at home as part of the District’s 1:1 technology initiative. As teachers and students have become more accustomed to using these devices as part of the CVSD learning environment, CV teachers have expressed that they have a need to be able to better monitor student use of CVSD devices during classes to ensure that students are using the devices appropriately. During the 2021-2022 school year, CVSD piloted two programs, with 21 teachers in grades 5-9. One of the programs, called Blocksi, was selected.
As a result, Blocksi was rolled out for use on the District’s Chromebooks and District Chrome student accounts, which are assigned to students in grades 5 - 11. Blocksi, a Google for Education and Microsoft partner, is a software program that offers a variety of solutions to assist in classroom management, internet filtering, and student safety. Blocksi complies with all privacy laws and it is NOT illegal spyware or malware. In fact, Blocksi helps CVSD comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act.
As a one-to-one district, Cumberland Valley uses a singular component of Blocksi as part of our device management program. Blocksi is installed through a google extension onto a student’s Chrome browser and Chromebook device in grades five through 11. Twelfth grade students, who have Windows laptops, continue to be monitored by the District’s web filter as required by law.
While there are numerous features, or “solutions,” available to districts and parents through Blocksi, CV has elected to only use the classroom management (teacher dashboard) component. This allows teachers, if needed, to monitor and manage a student’s device during class. As part of this Blocksi solution, neither the teacher nor the district has access to turn on the microphone or camera on a student’s device, and Blocksi’s classroom management solution is only functional on the device or in the Chrome student account, between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. each school day. In addition, CVSD does not have GPS hardware installed on our devices, nor does Blocksi geotrack our students, which has been shared as a concern by some parents.
We have information on our 1:1 technology webpage regarding app restrictions, personal content, management and remote control, and content filtering. This information is also referenced each year as part of back-to-school information shared with families. Additionally, applicable Board policies include Policy #815 (Acceptable Use Policy) and Policy #237 (Use of Electronic Communication Devices).
Please see below for a few additional questions and answers.
Is Blocksi installed on my home computer?
No, Blocksi is NOT installed on your home computer. Rather, it is installed as a Chrome extension on the CVSDstudents.org student google accounts in grades 5-11.
If a student logs into a Google Chrome browser with their school-issued CVSDstudents.org account, the Chrome extension will be active for the duration of that browser instance only.
The extension is not installed/active on the computer itself and does not have access to any personal applications, files, etc. Additionally, the extension is not installed/active for personal browser instances and it is not installed/active on any other browser software (Safari, Edge, Firefox, etc.).
There are a number of other extensions we use that operate in this same manner. Most notable is our internet filter, Content Keeper, but also Grammarly, Kami, Zoom, and Google Keep to name a few.
Is the Chrome extension active on my mobile device?
No, Chrome extensions do not work or install on Chrome mobile apps.
Did teachers have access to the program over the summer?
Teachers were trained on the afternoon of August 26, 2022, and at that time their classes were loaded and active via Skyward and Clever. As such, if students were logged into their
CVSDstudents.org account through Google Chrome during the teacher training, a teacher could have seen and used the Blocksi tool, should there have been a need.
Does a student know when they are being actively monitored?
Yes, when a student is signed into their CVSDstudents.org account through Google Chrome, they will notice Blocksi’s “B” icon in the extensions list in the upper right corner of their screen. If their teacher is actively monitoring their screen, a blue “M” indicator will appear as a subscript of the “B” icon. (See screenshot below.)
