Andrew Choi is the BHS director of technology, and The Eagle’s Cry had questions as to why some sites were blocked…. if there’s a way to unblock sites…and a few about the school wifi as well.

The Eagle’s Cry: Is it possible to track activity over wifi access and would you track students and staff?

Andrew Choi: “Any network activity over the district’s network can be tracked. This is done for the safety of staff and students. The district’s IT Department & Help Desk does not spend their day reviewing people’s activity, but only in the event of a circumstance or investigation that may warrant it. As per the district’s Board of Education Policy 4526 (Acceptable Use Policy), “computer network users should have no expectation to privacy with respect to any data stored or transmitted via the district’s Computer Network, or used in conjunction with the Computer Network.”

The Eagle’s Cry:  How come teachers and staff have access to the wifi?

Andrew Choi: “Bethpage Schools provides teachers and staff filtered access to the district’s wireless network. We allow this because the district does not currently provide 1:1 devices (such as Google Chromebooks) to our teachers and staff and some may elect to use their personal mobile or computing device for work or communication.”

The Eagle’s Cry: Would you allow some sites to be unblocked like music sites or even Cool Math Games?

Andrew Choi: “If there is a website that teachers or students may wish to use that is educationally sound, teachers can send the website to the IT Department & Help Desk for review with a description of how they plan to use the website. After review by the Director of Technology, he will authorize the IT Department & Help Desk to allow (whitelist) the website or keep it blocked.”

The Eagle’s Cry:  Would the wifi crash if everyone in BHS had access to the wifi?

Andrew Choi: “All of our classrooms at Bethpage High School are equipped with a wireless access point (WAP).  Generally, they can be found mounted somewhere to the wall or ceiling that is “square shaped” with an indicator light.  Rule of thumb is that each wireless access point can support approximately 30 wireless devices. If there was a classroom with over 30 students with wireless devices trying to get out to the Internet, user experience would be affected.  Bethpage Schools follows the FCC’s bandwidth recommendation of having 100 Mbps per 1,000 students enrolled. We have 3,200 student enrolled across the district’s five schools and our bandwidth is 400 Mbps. Assuming that all of our students are in their own classrooms and on an Internet-enabled device, we should be able to support the activity.