Students Speak Out: Milwaukee
MPS puts a filter on SSO, not allowing it in schools
Today, MPS put a filter on SSO, not allowing it to be accessed in schools. The district is presumably worried about inappropriate content (e.g. wall posts, pictures, etc.) and time spent online in schools social networking.
However, this site is not designed for that, it is designed as a place for constructive dialogue between students and adults about school and education. Hopefully with this dialogue students, parents, teachers and administrators alike can find a common ground to improve schools together.
So, we need to discuss how this filter is impacting YOU students, please contribute. We believe that for all of you working hard to improve your schools this is very disappointing and a big loss. Share your stories and discuss ways that this could be solved. Our ideology is centered on a common ground, so let's find one with the school district.
However, this site is not designed for that, it is designed as a place for constructive dialogue between students and adults about school and education. Hopefully with this dialogue students, parents, teachers and administrators alike can find a common ground to improve schools together.
So, we need to discuss how this filter is impacting YOU students, please contribute. We believe that for all of you working hard to improve your schools this is very disappointing and a big loss. Share your stories and discuss ways that this could be solved. Our ideology is centered on a common ground, so let's find one with the school district.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by george mayer on -
Great news! The filter has been temporarily removed, so for those of you that were responsibly accessing the site during school, you may now again.
BUT the discussion is not over and will likely be involving students and administrators. PLEASE use this site according to the terms of use SO you can keep using it in school!
ALSO we need your feedback and stories about why you want this site to stay accessible during school. Together we are doing great things (if you haven't heard, check out the other two featured discussions) and we want to continue our wonderful progress.
Let us know what you think about this!
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Permalink Reply by Zach on -
Hooray! I'm surfing it from here as well. I just don't understand why this was blocked in the first place. Wasn't this website CREATED by MPS for students or at least approved by MPS?
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Permalink Reply by Kim FB on -
Hi Zach,
No, this site is run by nonprofits that are interested in bringing student voice into the education policy process. MPS removed the filter from this site to allow students to do that; to influence the district. Many students are on here doing that good work. They don't necessarily have access at home or after school in the library when the filter is on.
It's unclear why the district turned the filter on--we haven't heard directly why that happened. Unfortunately, some students see this as an opportunity to socialize during school hours. Also, there may be concerns about cyberbullying and cyberstalking that can happen on any site of this nature. That's why we make sure all members agree to the terms of use before joining and report any issues of concern to us immediately.
Zach, we'd love to see you and other students involved in influencing education policy on the site. The school safety group just had an AWESOME meeting with Kristi Cole from MPS and Captain Negron from the police department to influence how police officers work in schools. Cole and Negron thought the students' ideas were really good and want to work with them in the coming weeks and next year to put their ideas into action. We're looking for students to participate in this effort...to be on a team that works with the police and MPS next year to move the ideas forward. You can see their platform and contribute your ideas--get involved in the team--in the "Safety Group". Click "groups" in the navigation...
The quality learning group also has a platform in the "groups" and has a series of meetings with decisionmakers and teachers in the coming weeks. I'll report back on that.
Hope to see you in the groups, Zach!
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Permalink Reply by Marquita Bryson on -
I noticed this a little whle ago that the site was banned from MPS-again. It's very irritating and highly disappointing. While I was upset about the ban, I do understand the concern. There are members of the site who are not using it for the appropriate reasons. The pictures are no longer a problem, but the messages on the message board are. I think we at Milwaukee SSO need to be more strict at policing one another of the comments being posted. It is definitley a pity to have to censor a site where people are supposed to speak their minds. Especially young people. But we have to face the problem that access to the site from school is simply being taken advantage of by untinterested students in search for a daytime Facebook until they can get home.
I've noticed that a large portion of the inappropriate content comes from our younger members. I'm not exactly sure how much clearer we can really make it that this site is for implementing change in our troubled school system. We may have to implement a system where if a member is caught misusing the site a number of times, they are kicked off the site. We might also have to have requirements for people to be inducted into membership onto the site. While this may intimidate some students from joining us, I think the most interested students will follow through with whatever the requirements are to be graned membership.
I really find it an inconvenience for the site to be blocked from schools, because it makes it harder for us students to recruit other interested students. We can't show them what the site is about at school now, and they may not have it in their minds to do it while at home.
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Permalink Reply by Kim FB on
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Here is something related to our discussion, about how some colleges look at social networking pages to evaluate students prior to admission: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-college29-2009apr29,0,12968...
There are a couple of ways we might think about this:
1. Shut SSO down to protect students from sabotaging themselves.
2. Use SSO as an opportunity for students to show what great things they can do.... For example, Zach and Marquita, your participation could be an absolute BOOST! It's not about the opinion you present and whether or not they agree. Instead, it's about the quality of your participation and the respect you convey to yourself and others. Posting scantily clad photos of yourself, negative language and negative songs do not convey such respect.
Students can use SSO to their advantage... Districts can support students in using SSO to their advantage.
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Marquita, I also want to make sure you're aware that we do have moderators who warn members for poor behavior and ban them. I do think students challenging students to preserve the quality of the site to support the good work happening here, and helping them see where opportunities to participate are, is a good strategy. I'd like to get students moderating the site more formally. Anyone interested should let me know on my MyPage.
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