The Issues With Chromebook Restrictions

By Jaymeson Snyder

   Knox County Schools issued every student a Chromebook for school use only. Teachers are also provided apps to track how long a student has been working or if they have been off task. A few things witnessed with these Chromebooks is that the cheating apps are blocked on the Chromebooks but what about the social media platforms? Many parents ask why cheating websites are blocked but social media platforms are not. Do they just not care about the well-being of students? Many students in Knox County are creating accounts for bullying, harassing, and doing things on the accounts that are not only against Knox County policy but also against the platform's community guidelines. Having classes that talk about social media and making accounts doesn't help in this situation.

    Another thing that was witnessed was that if a student takes off somewhere with the Chromebook can they track them? No. The Knox County police department is not able to track the issued Chromebook. Knox County will not do much about the Chromebook being taken with a runaway. They have many things that won't take but just one move to compromise. Students are responsible for the care of the Chromebook but it's the parents who are blamed for the mistreated actions that are taken.