By Alexandra Martinez-Alfaro and Zara Serrano
A district mandate to block YouTube and specific Google App features on school-issued Chromebooks has prompted some backlash recently.
YouTube Restricted
YouTube had previously been a popular source of educational videos for many at BHS. Students said they were unaware of why YouTube access had been abruptly blocked last month.
The streaming site has had significant changes to its platform over the years, but one issue still stands: the app still collects your personal information, even on school enterprise accounts like the ones used at BHS for students.
It turns out the ban is more about the safety of the students and protecting private information, according to school officials. These restrictions have been happening to districts all over Connecticut, not just Branford.
“The school district has to follow state compliance guidelines around student data privacy,” said BHS Principal Lee Panagoulias. “The district and all the schools in our district needed to get into compliance with the state regulations.”
Every student is issued a Chromebook and according to new guidelines instituted this year, cannot use personal devices – including laptops – during school hours.
Students have found ways around the restrictions, however. Some used a patched method of pasting YouTube video links into a Google Doc, Google’s word processor, and watching them in the embedded video player.
Cassandra Marinuzzi, a French Teacher at BHS, noted that she wasn’t heavily affected by YouTube being gone.
“I haven’t experienced any disruption to my teaching up to now. The only thing I’m doing differently is posting videos in a particular way to ensure that my students will be able to view them,” she said. “I know that, overall, there is an effort at BHS and in schools across the country to keep students safe from inappropriate content and to eliminate distractions in general. I am very much in support of those two goals.”
One point brought up among students was that YouTube did have moderation that shifted and removed inappropriate videos.
“I don’t think this ban was reasonable,” an anonymous student said to The Buzz. “There were already filters and safeguards in place on YouTube which prevented students from being exposed to inappropriate content. We need to allow students to learn how to find trustworthy sources in all forms of media, including video, in order to teach media literacy and raise socially conscious and responsible students.”
Another student argued both sides of the argument.
“Most people in their free time watch YouTube,” said Domenica Sislema. “When we have to do an assignment and we need to watch a video, we can’t. But if we look at it from another view it helps the students to stay more focused in class and doing assignments.”
Google Workspace for Education Restrictions
Another new Chromebook extension has restricted features on the Google Workspace for Education Suite of Apps to prevent student misuse of the devices. The application, xFanatical Safe Doc, is a third party Google Extension that bans features on the devices, including sharing Google Docs and making comments in an assignment, among others restrictions.
Teachers across BHS have expressed more frustration about the Safe Doc restrictions rather than YouTube, with many noting it’s more of an inconvenience than a benefit to student safety.
The main reason for the district using Safe Doc is to curb the misuse of standard Chromebook features. For example, students have used the commenting feature in Google Docs to host chatrooms.
Teachers have noted that not being able to share Google Docs has hurt collaboration, specifically citing the reason that students are unable to leave feedback on a peer’s document in class.
While both restrictions have their own purpose, students and staff have mixed opinions. The district has recently lifted the ban of sharing Google Docs, however leaving comments on them is still banned. YouTube is banned indefinitely with no clear intentions on bringing it back anytime soon.
Chief Reporter Owen Lentner contributed to this article.
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