Case Studies - Pennsylvania School Districts

School districts across Pennsylvania choose Websense Enterprise to ensure safe Internet access for students and faculty alike

To schools across Pennsylvania, the Internet has proven to be both a valuable educational resource and a substantial risk. While many teachers and students use the Internet daily as an educational tool, it's easy to stumble across online pornography, Web sites dealing with hate speech and other inappropriate content. That's why several Pennsylvania districts – including Neshaminy, Avon Grove, Oxford and Downingtown – decided to install Web filtering technology to place reasonable limits on student Web use and provide a safer learning environment for everyone.

Each district had the same overall objectives for purchasing Web filtering software. First and foremost, the districts wanted to block unfit Web content in the school environment. Secondly, districts around the state were seeking compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000, a law that ties federal funding to the purchase of Internet filtering software. Finally, the school districts wanted to manage how their staff and teachers accessed the Internet in the workplace. In all cases, the districts relied on the guidance of Summit Network Services, a Websense reseller based in West Chester, Pa., who showed the schools that filtering software goes beyond blocking Web pages, and includes managing bandwidth and network performance.

"The Internet is often seen as a doubled-edge sword in that it offers a wealth of relevant, useful information to students of all ages, but is also home to other types of material that is more unlawful in nature," said Jerry Rabinowitz, technology coordinator for Avon Grove School District, which provides online access to more than 5,000 students. "By selecting Websense Enterprise, we are confident that our students won't be faced with accidental exposure to inappropriate sites, and can therefore use the Web more productively."

One of the issues with enforcing Web use in schools is making sure Web content is categorized correctly in the Web filter's database. Some of the school districts tested alternative filtering solutions, including CyberSitter, SurfWatch, N2H2 and CyberSnoop. However, these competing solutions relied heavily on keyword blocking, or offered insufficient databases of Web sites, which school district IT administrators found unreliable and unacceptable, particularly in learning environments. Websense Enterprise, however, offers a comprehensive and flexible database of more than 4 million Web sites encompassing 1 billion Web pages.

"In order to maintain compliance with CIPA, we tested several filtering solutions, but found Websense Enterprise to be the most customizable and accurate in terms of its robust database," said Eric Paulson, director of technology for the Oxford School District, which provides online access to more than 750 students. "We aim to provide Internet access that is resourceful yet safe from inappropriate and sometimes dangerous content that can be found on the Web. Websense Enterprise lets us do just that with very little effort on our part."

Most schools had already asked students and faculty to sign an "acceptable use" Internet policy; however, in conjunction with CIPA, district educators needed a method by which the written policy could be enforced. Once installed, several districts also took advantage of Websense Enterprise's "quotas" and "defer" features, which allow faculty and staff members limited amounts of time per day to surf non-work-related Web sites or the ability to access restricted, yet acceptable, sites after school hours. This gives schools flexibility in managing employee use of personal Web surfing, while eliminating access to those sites that could create legal liabilities.

Excessive Web use not only decreases productivity, but also slows down network connectivity. Most of the school districts in Pennsylvania block what is known as the "sinful six" – Web sites relating to adult, race/hate, violence, tasteless, gambling and inappropriate content. Some districts are even managing access to Premium Group sites, which include instant messaging, freeware/shareware, message boards, pay-to-surf, Internet radio/TV and peer-to-peer file sharing – which all consume significant amounts of bandwidth. However, since deploying Websense Enterprise, all of the school districts indicated recovering network bandwidth, which enables faster connectivity to legitimate Web sites.

"Websense Enterprise has simplified our Internet-access management processes and has enabled a seamless integration with our existing network infrastructure," said Michael Bowe, network specialist for the Downingtown School District, which provides online access to more than 3,000 students. "By not only saving bandwidth, but increasing overall student and faculty productivity, Websense Enterprise has proven to be much smarter and more reliable than the other competing solutions we evaluated."

By utilizing Websense Enterprise, educators and students across Pennsylvania can focus on using the Internet for school-related purposes without having to worry about the inappropriate content that exists on the Web. Not only do school districts remain CIPA compliant by using Websense Enterprise, but they also benefit from increased bandwidth and improved network performance.

Pennsylvania school districts mentioned include Avon Grove, Downington, Nashaminy, and Oxford.