The MISD IT Department has issued new restrictions on 9th-grade laptops, designed to prevent students from accessing unmoderated sites, but the measure has had mixed results. To combat the pressing issue of freshmen students using their devices for non-academic purposes, the school implemented large-scale website bans that are intended to prevent students from playing video games, using generative AI and using their laptops for other improper activities.
“Our goal is not necessarily to prevent students from playing games,” MIHS IT Director Andreeves Ronser said. “[The restrictions] are about learning how and when to use [the laptops] and to build executive functioning skills.” Ronser says the new policy is “not necessarily about technology. It’s not necessarily about the phones, but it’s really about limiting the distractions.”
So far, these amplified restrictions have only applied to Freshmen laptops. Despite students behaving off-task with devices being a universal occurrence at MIHS, only Freshmen face the consequences of unfocused computer usage.
“It should be our choice what we do with our free time,” freshman Abhay Lizon said. However, during class, he says “it’s okay” to limit laptop usage. While most students understand the importance of staying on-task during school hours, many find it limiting and frustrating to be restricted from using their laptops outside of school.
Despite the issue of locking down unmoderated sites sounding simple on paper, the district continues to struggle with the many loopholes that students can easily exploit to bypass restrictions.
“I’ve seen lots of people somehow get on Gemini and other AI,” freshman Conner Hogan said. “I do understand why [the new policy was enacted], because we’re obviously going to cause a little bit of chaos on the laptops.” A seemingly endless amount of evolving VPNs, proxies and other faults continue to be utilized by students to bypass the content filter system. As the district attempts to tighten its grip on the Lenovos, more cracks appear in the software.
“[The restrictions] only affect people who are addicted to games,” an anonymous freshman student said. Some feel that the new policy is a natural consequence of using laptops incorrectly.
Overall, the reception to the new laptop restrictions is mixed. Most Freshmen understand why the policy was created, but many raise questions about its fairness. Though the restrictions were originally intended to block all non-managed sites, it is unlikely that the district will ever find a complete ban.
