Trouser Snakes and Google Docs

A war has been waged in my district. What web sites do you block? What sites do you allow? We are a mostly conservative community but have a lot of technology in our district. The tech director has been a huge advocate for supplying more and more technology (hardware and software)for the students in the district. The sites that have been monitored and blocked, however, are too numerous to mention.......

When I joined Twitter I had no idea that I would be introduced to such sites as Animoto, wallwisher, glogster, ning, etc. My excitement grew and grew and each day when I went to work, my disappointment clicked in - those sites were blocked.........

When I had CSD come into our school to train teachers how to integrate technology, most of the sites that the trainers wanted to access were blocked. Even after the technology staff tried to unblock, and believe me they did try, we were unsuccessful at bringing those sites up so that the teachers could access what they were learning about.

Even though "security" or as I like to call it, censorship, is tight, things that are inappropriate continue to get through.............

Did you know what the most venomous snake in the world is? According to Google, it is the Trouser snake, which when touched, becomes "aggressive and spits." The website goes on to describe the Trouser snake's habitat and mentions that when bit, a woman's belly grows and grows followed by excruciating pain..........

A few days ago I went to access a Google Doc file that I shared with my staff. Guess what? GOOGLE DOCS WAS BLOCKED! For me, that was the last straw. I immediately emailed my fellow principals, the tech. director, and superintendents. I want a meeting to discuss why these collaborative sites can't be accessed and used to teach our students.

I understand that we live in a conservative community. If we train teachers how to supervise the sites that they access and we are vigilant in supervising those sites, more good than harm will follow.

Wish me luck in my quest. If you have thoughts or words of wisdom, let me know! Until then I will continue to avoid the Trouser snake and look for ways to access Google Docs when people aren't looking..........