The Frances Xavier Warde School makes the safety of our students a top priority. We have multiple systems in place to ensure that our students can access as much of the valuable information on the internet and as little of the inappropriate content and technically and humanly possible.

FXW uses the Lightspeed Systems web filter to ensure that any school owned device is a safe device for schoolwork use, whether the device is on campus or at home. FXW also utilizes JAMF to manage applications and functionality on student devices, to minimize the chance of inappropriate content being added to a school device.  Our responsible use policy must be signed by a parent/guardian during the enrollment/re-enrollment process before students receive their devices and are allowed to use them. Students and parents are informed of the expectations of students and responsible behavior while using the internet. Teachers continually encourage and remind students of responsible use of the internet in the curriculum, and the consequences for misuse are clearly identified.

Legal Requirements

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA, passed in 2001) requires that all computers and managed devices with internet access at FXW be filtered. The Lightspeed filter is CIPA compliant and is deployed to all FXW-owned devices. Sites that are blocked are categorized as objectionable or obscene, hate speech, pornography, violence, and others as determined by school administration. Internet filtering is consistent with good classroom management. When using the internet as part of a lesson, teachers have the primary responsibility of ensuring that students are using appropriate resources and sites on the internet.

What happens if your child goes to an inappropriate site?
FXW Principals and Assistant Principals are alerted and will investigate the alert further with students and parents. Consequence is applied at the discretion of the FXW Leadership Team.

Filtering at home
While any FXW device in use by staff & students is constantly filtered, regardless of the network they are connected on, there are some options for families at home. OpenDNS (opendns.com) and Bark (bark.us) are highly recommended options.