District : Boston Public Schools
District Enrollment : 40,001+ students
Community Type : Urban
Boston Public Schools (BPS) serves approximately 57,000 students who are enrolled in 128 schools.
They have transformed from a failing school district to one of the most recognized urban public school systems. It is one of the most diverse districts in the country where half of the students speak another language, students are from 135 countries, and 3 out of 4 students live near or below the poverty line.
In 2007, with school-based Internet access on the rise, district technology administrators used high school students to assist with communicating the importance of online safety – specifically targeting K-8 students. With funding from a tech company, district administrators hired two high school interns with graphic design skills for the summer. Under guidance from tech directors, the interns created four cyber safety heroes who effectively conveyed key information to younger children about how to stay safe online. The colorful characters focused on personal and computer safety, copyright and cyber bullying and they became the basis for the BPS Cyber Safety Campaign. However, it became evident to the technology leadership that the district’s AUP was not student-centered. It was also apparent that the language in the AUP needed to be adjusted to be understandable to younger students.
A member of the Boston Public Schools tech staff was tasked with updating the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) with the goal of making it student-friendly. After scanning AUPs from districts across the country, the staff member found a model to modify by condensing the existing rules into 10 main points. We crafted the language to make students assume responsibility for their actions by starting each rule with the phrase, “I am responsible for….” We contracted a retired elementary teacher to review the language and to assist with developing age-appropriate AUP modules (including a glossary and a quiz) teachers could use in their classrooms. Since we are keenly aware that students do not always bother to read the AUP, we once again tapped high school interns to assist in developing grade-level appropriate podcasts designed to deliver the AUP message. Finally, we trained high school students to be cyber safety mentors who could go to classrooms and into the community to deliver the Internet safety message directly to youth.
Boston Public Schools received funding for this effort from Microsoft, Verizon, Bunker Hill Community College, and Boston Society of Information Management.
Haruna Hosokawa
Email: hhosokawa@bostonpublicschools.org
Diane Hauser
Email: dhauser@bostonpublicschools.org
