DUTCHESS COUNTY SCHOOLS, NY

The Internet offers America's youth a tremendous resource for learning and exploring the world. However, it is also a virtual wasteland of pornography, violent, and other inappropriate sites. Because of this, many Internet-connected schools are today facing serious issues regarding giving students open access to the Web, while at the same time protecting them from inappropriate content. In some cases, school districts are reluctant to give students access to the Internet at all because of these issues.

However, one school district has solved the dilemma with a flexible solution that benefits both students and administrators. Aware of the tremendous advantages of offering Internet access to students, the Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in up-state New York was eager to implement Internet access, but was very conscious of the productivity and safety concerns associated with providing this learning tool to students. To manage Internet use, BOCES chose filtering software from Websense Inc. Now, with Websense Enterprise software running on approximately 9,000 workstations, more than 40,000 elementary, middle and high school students will have access to the Internet.

"The initial goal was to protect students from inappropriate material," said Bob Knapp, a internetworking application specialist for Computer Systems Integrators Inc., the company responsible for evaluating and implementing Internet filtering software. "But with the all the features of Websense Enterprise, we also achieved the goal of bandwidth control."

Knapp said Websense was ultimately chosen because of its ability to integrate with a variety of platforms. Websense Enterprise was installed with Check Point Firewall-1 on an NT box at BOCES. The flexibility of Websense enabled BOCES to block student access to sites containing pornography, violence, alcohol/drugs or other illicit activities deemed inappropriate for viewing by children. After installing Websense, BOCES found that inappropriate access became a thing of the past

Reprinted with kind permission of Websense Inc.