The Internet & Your Child (Q&A) Q: Our school wants me to sign a waiver allowing my child to have access to the Internet. What should I do?   A: Here are a few questions I advise parents to ask teachers or administrators regarding the Internet in their schools. Your school's answers to these questions should determine whether or not you sign the waiver. 1. Does the school use some kind of Internet filtering software? 2. If the school doesn't plan on using filtering software, what kind of adult supervision will there be while students access the Internet? Will computer monitors be facing a direction that an adult will be able to easily and frequently see what is on the screen? 3. If there is to be no adequate adult supervision, or even when adult supervision is present, how will the school be held accountable if pornographic images or text are accessed by minors on school property? 4. How will the school guard against creating a hostile learning environment for students who may be working at a computer terminal next to a monitor that is being used to view pornographic images? 5. If the school takes no responsibility for the content of what students access on the Internet, is the school willing to extend this "hands off" policy to images and text that students print (and possibly distribute) from the pornographic sites? Will the school also have this same policy regarding racist images and text accessed and printed from the Internet? If the school district takes no responsibility for pornographic images or text accessed by minors on school property, is the district truly willing to spend thousands of education dollars defending itself in potential lawsuits for: (1) contributing to the delinquency of minors; (2) allowing a sexually hostile learning environment to exist on campus; (3) allowing obscene material on campus? © 2002, Gateways to Better Education Questions? If you have a question for Gateways to Better Education, we offer two options: 1. If you have an urgent issue that needs an immediate response, we recommend that you call our Advisory Line at (949) 586-KIDS (5437), 2. Send us an email containing your question.