Arrowhead High School Makes Wi-fi Changes For Second Semester

Arrowhead High School activated a Wi-Fi security system called Securly on January 29th, which is a web filter that monitors students when logged into Wi-Fi at Arrowhead High School. The program was activated second semester which began on January 29th. If students did not enable Securly to their computer they may not have successful access to the internet while at school.

Securly blocks websites and restricts students from searching for shopping, games, and other websites. Arrowhead already had a Wi-Fi monitor that blocks out certain things at school, but students had to personally enable Securly to their devices.

According to the AHS webpage, Securly is a cloud based web filtering company for K-12 schools that also focuses on student safety. Securly is CIPA (Children’s Internet and Protection Act) compliant. Students were also to download a certificate which ensures that their installation is successful, and claims to ensure students that their access to Wi-Fi will be successful.

Many students have had problems accessing Wi-Fi at school and even at home because of Securly.

Junior Cari Nelson says, “The installation of this program caused it to download other things onto my computer, completely restart it, and reset it. I lost everything on my one week old computer, and it caused viruses and so many other problems.”

When the idea was first introduced, Arrowhead had two home room meetings to guide the students through it.

A petition was created by Owen Harvey to try and abolish the use of Securly at Arrowhead High School, and there was over 1,000 signatures. Arrowhead High School still went through with the new program.

Owen Harvey says, “Within two days over 1,000 people signed the petition…I think it’s a violation of our right and shouldn’t have access to every single file on our personal computer whether you are at school or at home.”

Some features of Securly include: weekly reports that are emailed to the parents of their students use of the Wi-Fi, monitors bullying, blocks inappropriate websites.

According to the Securly website, “Parents feel confident that their students are protected and that the devices are allowing them to be connected and successful in their studies…Schools maintain safer 1:1 environments through web filters, and cyberbullying/self-harm detection across social media. Securly makes CIPA compliance a breeze.”

Nelson says, “I think it would be good for detecting cyberbullying and cases like that but there are other ways of figuring that stuff out besides snooping into our own personal information. I don’t want the school able to see everything I do at home. At school is understanding but this is my personal computer that I bought and Arrowhead shouldn’t be able to see what I do on it when i’m at home.”

The Arrowhead website says, “We only filter and monitor access on our Arrowhead network (Arrowhead wireless Internet and Google Apps for Education) and Arrowhead-owned devices. We do not monitor student-owned devices outside of our network unless students are accessing Arrowhead Google Apps for Education. Securly DOES monitor social media posts created while connected to Arrowhead Internet or on a Chromebook logged in to an Arrowhead account. Securly cannot see all of a student’s social media, only content posted while on our network.”