GEN: Internet filters in elementary schools

[Mark Frank <mtfrank@EROLS.COM>]

Good morning --
    Ah-- the topic arises once again.....My school hopes to add internet
access to classrooms this year, and, as expected, the suggestion of
using a filter has come up.  (Last year, we only had access in the
library/computer lab, and so I was able to assure parents that student
navigations were closely monitored and avoided this issue.)
    Checking the archives, I found many interesting past messages on
this topic, but none as recent as I would have liked to prepare me for
the upcoming discussions with the administration and parents.  To be
honest, I at first was opposed to the whole concept of filtering, but
have been impressed by the explanations offered at serveral companies'
sites about their filtering process.  My school is PreK-5,  small (110
students) and the parents are very involved.
    One active parent has suggested a service called Mayberry.  It would
work as our ISP, and the pricing is reasonable, but the site does not
give a very good accounting of filtering criteria.  Do any of you out
there in elementary schools have any experience with this?  Comments?
Alternative packages or ISP's that provide this service?  I looked up
the site for the service "Bess", but it did not list pricing (I have
emailed them for this information, but if any of you can give me an
idea,....).  SurfWatch and WebSense require NT, and we are using
Novell.  This is new ground for me, and if anyone can help, it would be
greatly appreciated.  I will post a hit if there is enough response, and
respond individually otherwise.  TIA

Cathy Frank
Gibson Island Country School
Pasadena, MD   21122
mtfrank@erols.com

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