The State Superintendent of Education is weighing in a recent report by the Office of the State Auditor that found inappropriate material on public school-issued computers for students. MPB's Mark Rigsby reports.
State Superintendent Carey Wright says she was surprised the "Cyber security" audit discovered explicit material on computers issued to public school students.
"I do know that any of our districts that are receiving E-rate money, which all of our districts are, are requried to develop policies and procedures around protecting children from what they should not be viewing on the internet. Knowing that, my assumption was that those policies and procedures were being executed."
Nine public school districts participated in the audit. 150 devices were analyzed at high schools and middle schools. Nearly a quarter of them contained inappropriate material, like pornography. State Auditor Stacey Pickering.
"An audit is a great management tool. Am I doing what I think I'm doing? Not just when it comes to this case, cyber security, filters that protect against explicit material, pornography, and other issues. But from a financial standpoint. How well am I managing the taxpayers' dollars and resources?"
Superintendent Wright says she will meet with the technology team at the state Department of Education to discuss providing technical assistance to public school districts, and possibly developing a stronger statewide cyber security policy.
