This information was taken from the NSD School2Home Chromebook Handbook
What if a student forgot to charge their Chromebook and the battery is dead?
One of the best ways to avoid this issue is to consistently (and constantly) remind students to charge the Chromebook at home every night. They are expected to bring the Chromebook to school charged every day. If they fail to do so, they may request a loaner Chromebook from the library or School Technology Specialist (STS) for the day. Barring that, the student would have to charge their Chromebook in the school’s Chromebook location and lose out on participation in the classroom Chromebook activities until the battery is charged.
What if my student forgot to bring the Chromebook to school?
If a student forgets to bring their Chromebook to school, the student may miss out on Chromebook-related instructional activities that day. Please help your student bring their Chromebook to/from school daily! Each school has a very small number of “loaner” devices. Priority for these loaners goes to students who experience equipment issues outside their control. When available, a student who forgot their Chromebook may be issued a “loaner” device by the school.
What happens if a student’s Chromebook is broken after checkout?
The student will bring the broken Chromebook to school to turn it in to their school’s STS. A loaner/spare may be checked out on the spot to minimize loss of instructional time. Once the student’s original Chromebook is repaired, the student may be notified to swap the loaner for the original Chromebook.
What if the Chromebook is stolen?
The loss needs to be reported ASAP to your student’s school along with a police report. The student can then check out a loaner/spare. It is critical that the student maintain good security for the Chromebook always! Please work with your student to reinforce the importance of taking care of the Chromebook.
How are students kept safe online?
When students’ use District issued Chromebooks, while at school or home, they access the internet through district filtering and security systems. These systems are provided to help ensure students’ online safety as they explore the World Wide Web. They are also designed to meet the federal requirements outlined in the Children’s’ Internet Protection Act (CIPA) which the district must comply with NSD Chromebook filtering relies on security systems from Lightspeed and Fortinet. These state-of-the-art filtering systems are used to block inappropriate or objectionable material and provide online computing environments for students which support their education. However, no filtering system is 100% reliable. It is reported that over 33,000 web sites are created each day and new sites with objectionable material for students can be missed or may have not yet been picked up for filtering.
Students are responsible to help ensure their online safety and should report any inappropriate sites. The District’s Responsible Use Policy prohibits the use of proxy bypass or other tools that can circumvent the District’s filtering systems.
General categories of sites which are blocked by District firewalls include: Alcohol, tobacco and abused drugs; nudity and adult content; dating; social networking; games, shareware and freeware; streaming media and music purchase and download; web hosting and web based email, online storage and backup; hacking, malware, and phishing; internet portals, personal sites and blogs, private IP addresses; proxy bypass/avoidance and dynamic DNS; and translations sites which can circumvent filtering systems; as well as other identified objectionable content.
District technology staff can block additional sites identified as containing inappropriate content. If sites within blocked categories are needed for specific instructional purposes, teachers can request those sites be opened for access.
Students computing off-site on district-issued Chromebooks are tunneled back through filtering services so that they cannot bypass safe student filtering while connected to private networks.
I don’t allow my student to have a password on their home Chromebook so I can monitor its use. How can I know what my student is doing on the school Chromebook?
Get the username and password from your student. While we prohibit sharing passwords with unauthorized users, parents are explicitly authorized users. We encourage you to know what your student is doing on his or her school Chromebook.
As an added measure, at home, parents can add filtering to their home network. One option is using a free filtering service like the one from www.OpenDNS.com that will filter nefarious content from your home network on all devices, including the NSD School2Home device. If your student has accessed a website that causes you concern and that you feel is inappropriate, please notify your student’s teacher or school Principal.
Home Internet access is expensive. Are families required to provide Internet access at home?
No, we don’t require families to have Internet access, though it would be very helpful for students. You should know, however, about the Comcast Internet Essentials program, which provides basic Internet access to families with students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This program offers home Internet service for $9.95 a month plus tax. For more information, visit InternetEssentials.com or call 1- 855-846-8376.
Can my student use their own personal Chromebook instead of a district-issued Chromebook?
There are several reasons why we are providing the same computing devices to all students in school. They include safety, instruction, technical support, and equity.
Safety: We have installed web filters and have other safety precautions that help prevent students from accessing inappropriate or unsafe websites while at school or home. We can’t be sure that devices brought from home meet the same standard.
Instruction: We have purchased and installed several different extensions and services on district Chromebooks that will not be available on outside Chromebooks. The same software, and even the same version, will be on each district Chromebook, so teachers can quickly and more efficiently teach entire classes and help individual students. Trying to teach a lesson with several different kinds of software and/or different versions of that software would be very difficult.
Technical Support: We can provide robust technical support through our technical support staff to a limited universe of computing devices. We can’t offer the same level of support to an unlimited universe of devices, which could lead to more Chromebook downtime and lost learning opportunities. This practice is similar to the private sector, where employees are issued a company-owned device to ensure a predictable user experience and optimal technical support.
Equity: Some families cannot afford the latest Chromebook or even a Chromebook at all. If all students are using the same device, they can focus on what they are learning with the device, not on who has which device and what else is on it.
Can students connect with their home printer or do they have to accomplish it in a different way?
Student Chromebooks can print to home printers. Consult your printer’s support documentation to set this up.
Internet Safety Resources
The District has selected an internet safety curriculum that is developed by Common Sense Media. As part of this handbook, we have provided some of their tip sheets so that parents can support students in using the internet safely. More resources can be found at the Common Sense Media website.
