In June of 2023 Gov. Abbott signed into law an act concerning internet safety as it pertains to school-aged students. In this law, parents have the right to request that their child NOT have access to a device that can access the internet, and to request that their child NOT have access to a specific educational program provided by the district.
The purpose of this site is to inform parents of their rights, of the electronic products that the district uses, to provide parents with a process for submitting complaints or concerns regarding usage of electronic devices, and to allow parents to opt-out of technology EXCEPT for software for academic assessments, or for college, career, or military readiness(CCMR) assessments.
A technology consent form was included in the registration packet prior to your child starting school, however, this page contains more detail of the specific products used at MISD.
Software in use by the district:
Benchmarking/curriculum products: Amplify (Reading/English Language Arts), Apex Learning (General), Carnegie Learning (Math), CLI Engage (PK-K Testing), DMAC (Testing), Ellevation (ELL/Bilingual), Great Minds (Science), Holt McDougal Online (Secondary Social Studies), i-Ready (3rd-6th Benchmarking), IXL (General/Practice), mClass (1st & 2nd Benchmarking), MyPath (Secondary General), ODell (Secondary Literacy), Renaissance (Secondary Benchmarking), STEMscopes (Secondary Science), Studies Weekly (Elementary Social Studies), Summit K12 (ELL, Bilingual), Teaching Strategies (PK-K General), DRC Insight (ELL/Bilingual testing), ETS Secure Testing Browser (State testing), College Bridge (CCMR Platform), Mastery Connect Lockdown Browser (TXVSN testing)
Supplemental software - Teachers also have the ability to use the following programs with their students: BookNook (Reading), Canva (Design/Creative), DuoLingo (language practice), FlipGrid (presentations), Kahoot! (review), Khan Academy (Math), Nearpod (presentation/student engagement), Paper (on-demand tutorial), Prodigy (Educational Game), Schmoop (homework help and study guides), Xello (CCMR platform), XtraMath (Math practice), ClassLink (Single Sign On platform), PearDeck (presentation/review), Quizziz (review)
General Software - teachers and students have access to software to facilitate teaching and learning: Google Workspace for Education Plus, including G-Mail, Google Drive, including Docs, Sheets, and Slides, Google Classroom, and Schoology.
Any questions or concerns regarding the usage or purpose of these programs should be emailed to Niki Edwards, Chief Academic Officer, at nedwards@marlinisd.org.
Internet content filtering:
The district’s web content filter and classroom management software is Securly, and is installed on all school-issued devices. Information about Securly Filter can be found at securly.com/filter. Due diligence is taken to ensure that your child is not exposed to obscene or offensive material on the internet, including via pop-ups/pop-outs or notifications, however, due to the ever-changing nature of the internet, certain specific sites may not be recognized by the web filter algorithm. Content aware, category, and keyword blocks are in place. When new uncategorized sites are discovered, Securly adds them to the block category list. Content-aware filtering will also block content based on files and text on a website. The technology department also has the ability to block specific sites or platforms.
The district also blocks social media like Instagram and Snapchat, social networking like Facebook or Twitter, and chat or messaging sites like kik or Discord. For a specific list of blocked content categories, please email Adam LeJeune, Executive Director of Technology, at alejeune@marlinisd.org.
The district also restricts search to strict SafeSearch, and YouTube to “Strict Access” to filter out potentially inappropriate content, as well as hiding comments, potentially objectionable thumbnails, and auto-suggestions for more videos on a topic.
To submit questions or concerns about your child’s access to online content, please email Adam LeJeune, Executive Director of Technology, at alejeune@marlinisd.org, or call or email your child’s campus administration team.
Attempts by students to avoid the content filter are logged, and parents are notified in egregious circumstances. This is considered a violation of the Technology Usage Agreement, and may result in the student’s loss of access to district technology resources.
Time-based internet restrictions:
Certain students take devices home to complete required programs or assignments. To satisfy one requirement of the SCOPE Act, Marlin ISD blocks all internet access on school-issued devices from 11pm to 5am.
Protecting your child’s information:
Marlin ISD uses Google Workspace Education Plus as the email provider for students. Google Workspace for Education Plus does not scan emails for promotional purposes, does not show text-based or image-based ads to students, and does not collect personally identifiable information from students.
Extensions allowed on student devices are vetted by the technology department, and only non-personally identifiable information, aside from name and email address, are shared. These items are considered directory information for school-sponsored purposes.
Students below 6th grade are not allowed to email anyone without an @marlinisd.org email address. Chat for students 6th grade and above is turned on to facilitate student-student collaboration, but is only allowed with other @marlinisd.org accounts. Chat, email, and Google Drive files are retained and fully searchable for content.
Cybersecurity and student internet safety awareness:
Marlin ISD recommends Google’s Be Internet Awesome program for family internet and online safety awareness training. The program, developed by Google in partnership with iKeepSafe, ConnectSafely, and the Family Online Safety Institute, is a free program available in multiple languages. It is accessible at beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com.