In 2000, Congress passed the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) giving schools or libraries prerequisite requirements in order for them to receive federal funding. In order to receive this funding, school systems have to verify there are technological protection measures and an Internet safety policy in place in their system.
 Since Internet security is always a big concern for school systems, allowing students’ access to the Internet must be secure and monitored daily in order to block students from content which is inappropriate and unsafe. It is also important to keep the network safe from unknown attacks or unwanted spyware which could damage the network.
The Bryan County School Board recognizes the importance of this safety and the use of computers to help support learning and provide resources and tools to promote excellence. Our system has an in-depth Internet Policy which complies with the Children’s Internet Protection Act. All Internet users must sign an Internet user authorization form. Student users must have a parent or guardian sign an authorization form before they are allowed access to the Internet and teachers must sign a sponsoring teacher authorizing form.
Bryan County School System students are kept safe with the use of the Lightspeed System Network Traffic Management Program.  
This program enables total traffic control including everything going in and out of the local network as well as everything which is running inside the network. This software is capable of setting program permissions or intrusion prevention rules, which helps stop threats before entering the system’s network and spreading unwanted viruses.
Daily extensive monitoring and reporting shows everything that is running on the network.
Unwanted content is filtered and bandwidth is managed in order to prioritize Internet traffic. An increase in “junk mail” or unsolicited commercial email known as Spam continuously is blocked. The Lightspeed software provides the highest level of privacy and complies with the requirements of CIPA.

Warren is technology director for the BoE