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Schools

Parkland Gets High Marks on Web Safety

State auditor found that districts' efforts to block objectionable Web sites from district computers appear to be working well, officials say.

Stories of children getting into trouble online can be hair-raising for parents so Parkland School District officials were happy to hear a report that Web safety protections for students in their schools are working. 

The state auditor general’s office did a regular audit of numerous school district programs and services, such as transportation and security in schools, that lasted from Labor Day through the end of April.

Assistant Superintendent Rod Troutman said one of the areas audited was safety in schools. “They checked all the security plans to make sure they were up to date, they would pull teachers out …and ask them questions about crisis plans and how they handled their students and what was expected,” he said at a school board finance committee meeting Monday.

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An auditor also did tests on computers at Parkway Manor Elementary, Orefield Middle School and Parkland High School in the district to see if he could get into five objectionable Web sites, such as porn sites.

Troutman said the auditor told him, “You’ll be lucky to get three of the five blocked, four out of five is really good.” 

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The district’s computer firewalls blocked all five sites, which really impressed the auditor, Troutman said. He credited Tracy Smith, assistant to the superintendent for operations, and her staff.

Parkland gets its Internet service through the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21, which her staff works with to block and unblock sites as needed, Smith said.

“Parents are concerned that their kids are protected at school, and I think that’s pretty phenomenal that Tracy’s done that and we should tell people about that,” said School Board member Mark Hanichak, who was attending the meeting via speaker phone.

The auditor general’s office looked at a wide range of areas from teacher certification to accountability block grants to transportation for the year of 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, according to John Vignone, director of business administration.

“This was a very in-depth, lengthy audit,” Vignone said. “There were no findings, and a finding is the worst thing that can happen 'cause you’re probably doing something wrong, you overpaid or underpaid and didn’t catch it.”

When the audit report is done, the district will have an exit conference in which the auditors come back and meet with the administration about the report. 

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