The Marshwood school board agreed last week to table the idea of purchasing a software system to monitor student computer accounts for threats of violence, either toward themselves or others.
The main piece of this software, offered through the company Securly, uses a database of keywords and AI to monitor student web searches, emails, chat, and documents for what the company calls “extreme risk” situations.
The board agreed that spending $10,000 or so to buy the system did not make sense given that the monitoring would occur only within the district’s Google domain, and students would easily be able to find workarounds.
Superintendent John Caverly said that discussions by the board’s policy committee indicated they felt more positive options would be more effective in keeping students safe, and the money could better be used in other ways.
RSU 35 already uses another Securly product, called Filter, to block certain websites on the school’s domain.
“We decided to recalibrate to decide if this is a road we want to go down,” Caverly said. “It’s a philosophical question. Are there other ways we can invest in the kids“ to keep them safe.
