Technology Support for Families

If you are having issues logging in your student for a time sensitive session, please start by reaching out to your student's teacher. 

After reaching out to your teacher, please follow the troubleshooting process below.

Please contact your school's front office with any broken devices. They will provide more guidance and arrange for a new device if needed.

For both Elementary and Secondary levels, students will be utilizing Google Suite for Education as a learning platform. Google Classroom will serve as a central hub for all evidence of learning and learning processes. Google Classroom can be enhanced by instructional technology tools such as SeeSaw, ClassKick, etc. 

If you're experiencing issues with Google Suite for Education, a website, email, online platform, or application follow the steps below. 

1. Start by shutting down the device or computer. After remaining shut off completely for 30 seconds, reboot the computer or device. 
2. Can you connect to google.com? If not, unplug the power cord from the modem and then replug. Wait five minutes. If you cannot connect to google, please contact your internet provider.
3. If you can connect to google, try accessing the software platform again. 
4. If this is your personal device and you are still encountering issues, please contact your teacher for support. 

How cache and cookies work:

Cookies are files created by sites you visit. They make your online experience easier by saving browsing data.

The cache remembers parts of pages, like images, to help them open faster during your next visit.

Earlier this Fall we asked families to complete a Needs Assessment to monitor the demand and needs of our families and students. If you missed this survey, please reach out to your school directly.

Schools will prioritize device distribution (iPads, Chromebooks) based on family needs. Our first priority is to ensure each household has at least one device for distance learning, followed by additional devices for households with more than one student. 

With more technology-infused learning occurring at home, we wanted to take a moment to remind you of how the District filters and monitors online content. We also want to offer tools to support your child's digital safety at home. 

Filtering:

Rochester Public Schools provides internet filtering on all district devices. Learn more about School Board Policy 524 Internet, Acceptable Use and Safety Policy on BoardDocs.

We understand that the appropriateness of content is subjective and varies greatly depending on the student's age. The District attempts to balance protecting our students while allowing them the freedom needed to complete their coursework. 

The District implements a "safe search" website filtering setting. While the safe search setting offers adequate protection against inappropriate content, it is not 100% effective. Suppose parents discover a student can access objectionable or inappropriate content. In that case, they should report the content to the content provider (such as YouTube, Bing, etc.). Parents' feedback helps ensure the content providers are continually reviewing settings. Unfortunately, the District cannot block specific searches on these websites. 

Website filtering is implemented based on website categories or types. The District can override search engine sites that are miscategorized. However, the District does not have the resources to maintain specific, narrow lists of search queries. Content on the internet changes too quickly to maintain these lists.

The following is a list of URL categories that the District blocks:

• Adult Themes
• Alcohol
• Dating
• Drugs
• Gambling
• Hacking
• Hate/Discrimination
• Illegal Downloads
• Lingerie/Bikini
• Nudity
• P2P/File Sharing
• Parked Domains
• Personal VPN
• Pornography
• Proxy/Anonymizer
• Tobacco

Monitoring:

Rochester Public Schools' filtering software also logs every web address accessed by a device, as required by federal law. We can generate one-time or scheduled reports for a user, a device (such as an iPad, Chromebook, laptop, or desktop), or a combination of both. The filtering software logs every connection made by a device, including software and application updates to Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc.  

Students are not permitted to use incognito mode or clear browsing history on iPads and Chromebooks. Therefore, looking at the device's search and browsing history will give a quick and simple overview of the student's web search and page views. 

For ongoing monitoring of a student or device, reports from the web filtering software can be scheduled at regular intervals and automatically emailed to the requestor.

Additional Filtering:

Families may want to provide additional filtering or internet monitoring at home. While we cannot recommend any specific product, we suggest families implement filtering and monitoring at the network level, either as a feature built into the router or as an add-on cloud service. Many of these products also support advanced features such as enabling or disabling internet access to a device based on time of day, etc.

Monitoring or filtering solutions that require the installation of an app on a school-issued device are not allowed for the following reasons:

• The filtering or monitoring app may conflict or interfere with the filtering software used by the District.
• One-off filtering or monitoring apps/extensions do not meet the district software standards (such as the number of users) for app deployment.
• The District technology team does not have the resources to validate 3^rd party filtering apps or extensions.
• The District technology team cannot troubleshoot or modify 3^rd party filters should they prevent access to required resources while a student is in the classroom.