Technology Newsbytes - August 19, 2009

As we kick off the start of the 2009-10 school year, it is important that you are aware of some recent changes in our district's technology. Please take the time to read this message as it contains important information to further your understanding and reduce frustration.

Internet Filtering & Access

CUSD understands that access to the Internet may be an important part of your job. Previously, all users, staff and students, had the same level of access. Our new web filter allows for less restrictive filtering of staff. All web traffic is logged and we are analyzing the reports to better understand the needs of our users.

Streaming video sites (i.e. youtube) and media intensive sites can be educational but they also require much more bandwidth. While there have been many changes in CUSD technology, one thing that has not changed is the size of our Internet connection. We have a limited amount of bandwidth available to share between all users. More users, requiring more bandwidth, results in slower web page loading. Sites with a slower T1 connections back to the district office could be slowed to a crawl if many users at that site are trying to stream video.

Because of the limiting factor of our Internet connection, please do not abuse the less restrictive access by using streaming sites unless it is work related. Doing so will slow everyone down and possibly result in having to restrict access again.

The web filter has to determine whether you are a student or staff member to assign appropriate filtering. Please use Internet Explorer 6 or 7, the district’s supported web browser, to avoid being prompted for username and password. IE 8 is currently being tested.

Other browsers (i.e. Firefox) may not support pass-through authentication and therefore will prompt you for a username and password. If you fail authentication, you will default to student level filtering until the filter queries you again. To avoid the prompts, please use the district supported browser Internet Explorer. No other browsers are supported. If you do experience a prompt to get on the Internet, please use the same credentials you use to log into your computer, but preface your username with clovisusd.k12.ca.us.

For example-

Name: clovisusd.k12.ca.us\username

Password: your domain password

You should also be aware that there are higher security risks with many of the new web 2.0 sites and tools. We are trying to strike a balance between access and security. We will be monitoring for abuse and security threats. Please review the updated Board policies ( 7203 ) relating to appropriate technology use.