Library closes book on filters

Published on Dec 19, 2008
Lisa Rutledge, Times Staff

The Cambridge Library Board is closing the book on computer filter debates but angry parents say the story’s not over yet, threatening to take their fight to city hall.

Despite three delegations pleading for the installation of software programs to prevent downloading of pornography on library computers visible to children, the board decided to send letters to parents advising them to supervise children while at the library.

The board’s decision to uphold its policy not to employ Internet programs for reasons of censorship or the possibility they might block legitimate websites came as a shock to parents.

“This is definitely not the end,” said Rob Nickel, a retired police officer and cyber safety expert. “I have never been so disappointed in a board of directors.”

The speaker and author, who uses filtering programs on his home computer to protect his children, insisted there’s no validity to the arguments that programs will interfere with educational research.

“I can’t think of any reason why Internet filtering can’t work.”

He promised to do anything in his power to force local libraries to install software to prevent pornographic images and videos from being displayed on the public computers.

Nickel witnessed graphic images being downloaded at the Queen’s Square library branch last summer and said it was in plain view of children. Since then, he has taken up a local fight to have library computers equipped with safety software.

Concerns about protecting children must take priority over censorship arguments, he told the board in his delegation.

“There’s people’s rights and then there’s doing what’s right.”

And after seven years of hunting down pedophiles online as part of his job, he said he knows what perverts are out there and the lengths they will go to get their “jollies”.

It wasn’t an easy job, he admitted.

“But I loved it because we were making a difference.”

After leaving the meeting held at the Clemens Mill library branch Wednesday, Nickel and a group of parents gathered in the library to plan their next move. In addition to addressing city council, he plans to take his message to Queen’s Park as a show of support for MPP Gerry Martiniuk’s private member’s bill calling for mandatory Internet filters in libraries.

He encouraged people to sign Martiniuk’s petition and is inviting feedback via e-mail at www.cyber-safety.com . He is promising to put the topic of Internet filters on library computers on the national media agenda and insists he hasn’t met anyone who has disagreed with the cause.

Also addressing the board was Cambridge mother Kathy Fitzgerald who described two incidents during which she and her son were exposed to explicit pornography on library computers. One of those times was on a computer set aside for kids. She quoted studies claiming that it only takes three-tenths of a second for an image to become locked into memory.

Speaking as a resident, Cindy Watson, a public school board trustee, urged the board to strike a committee consisting of law enforcement, legal counsel, educators, parents and computer experts to find a compromise that will protect children.

She warned that the board would only continue to hear from parents if nothing is done.

Kim Fowler, executive director of Fiddlesticks Neighbourhood Association, left Wednesday’s board meeting in disgust. She plans to take the issue back to her own board of directors and will address city council. She knows the city is preparing budgets for January and suggested that pressure from the city, which funds the library, might help.

“It’s public money,” she said.

Fowler, who has a teenage son, said the risks are too high that children could be exposed to porn.

“Quite frankly, I would rather see all the computers taken out,” she said, in the interest of safety of children.

That would be unfortunate, she noted, as some people can’t afford computers at home.

Chief librarian Greg Hayton said the board won’t comment on the backlash from parents at the meeting but maintains that the board has already dealt with the issue of filters and will uphold its policy. The delegations aren’t going to affect the board’s decision, he said.

Internet Filtering at Cambridge Libraries: meeting on December 17th, Clemens Mill branch

As a follow up to previous meetings on Internet filtering at Cambridge libraries, the library board will host an open meeting at the Clemens Mill branch on Wednesday December 17th at 4:30PM. Rob Nickel, a cyber safety expert, and Roger Martiniuk, MPP, are expected to voice their significant concerns with unfiltered computers in a public environment - an environment where children read, learn and play on computers. All are encouraged to attend and participate.





Cambridge library board won't filter internet sites
Kevin Swayze, Cambridge

The four city library branches continue to be the only libraries in Waterloo Region that don't filter pornography on their public internet access computers.

This week, the Cambridge Public Library board rejected calls to install blocking software after staff reported that current blocking technology can hide content that may be legal.

The board, however, directed staff to look at plainly informing parents that offensive websites cannot be blocked when their children log onto public terminals.

The issue will be discussed again at a future library board meeting.

"What's frustrating is our tax dollars are being used to provide pornography," Cindy Watson of Cambridge told the library board Wednesday. She's a public school board trustee but was speaking as a private citizen.

The fact that the library board is willing to continue discussing the issue and better inform parents is a good start, Watson said.

She read a letter from Rob Nickel, a retired Ontario Provincial Police officer, who caught someone downloading pornography on a library computer two months ago while children were standing beside him. Nickel, who lectures police, children and educators about internet safety, had to be in Alberta when the meeting was held this week.

Nickel urged the library to put filters on all children's computers and most adult computers.

A few unfiltered internet computers could be isolated from children where adults could use them, he suggested.

Andy Coutts, president of Guelph-based Netsweeper, said no filtering software is perfect, but it does a good job blocking words, and catches pornographic images 80 per cent of the time.

Don't focus on the technology, he advised the library board. An internet access policy is needed first, then the fine tuning of the available technology.

Greg Hayton, the chief librarian, said the library is already meeting its "due diligence requirement under Canadian law" to prevent downloading of illegal pornography.

Among the steps it has taken: the use of monitor screens, which prevent anybody but the user from seeing what's on a computer, having staff oversee what people view, and requiring users to agree to the library's internet policy.

Putting filters on children's computers would be a "panacea," Hayton said, because there's no evidence of a problem in that area. It would just muddle the issue of adults accessing improper content, something only a handful of people are complaining about, he said.

"That is the appearance of doing something, not the reality," he said.

Hayton said the no-filtering policy is described on computer log-in screens and library card application forms.

Four years ago, the library board reviewed its internet-filtering policy and rejected using the software.

The board also thought that parents would be plainly warned there were no filters, said board member Danika Brown.

"If we're not going to filter, we have to very clearly state it," Brown said of the current notification process.

Meanwhile, Cambridge MPP Gerry Martiniuk continues to push forward with a private member's bill requiring public libraries to use filtering software. He expects the bill will be introduced early next year.

Secondary School Registration

Have a child moving on to high school next year? Want to learn about different options, programs and schools? The Water Region District School Board can certainly help with this. See the WRDSB website for such information, from parent-student evenings, to programs, to schools, to boundaries. This is definitely worth a look.

What Program is Best for Me?
Visit up2u.ca for information on all of our programs
Open Houses:
Dates, Times and Locations
Which School Will I Attend?
Review the School Boundaries
Waterloo Region DSB Secondary Schools:
Click here for a list of our secondary schools
Directions to Schools:
Google Maps are provided to help you find your school

Tuck Shop: call for volunteers

The CMPS Tuck Shop is back by popular demand! Healthy snacks and drinks will once again be offered to students starting in the new year. But we need your help. Specifically, we need parents to volunteer their time in order to assist with the operation of the Tuck Shop. Even if it's only for a few hours a week, this goes a long way. And it's fun! If you are available to help with the program, send us an email at clemensmillcouncil{at}gmail.com or call the school office at 519-740-2364.

Minutes from November 12th Meeting

Meeting Start: 7:00 PM
Meeting Close: 8:45 PM
Attendees: Richard Marcil, Ozzie Ahmed, Kimberly Namespetra-Sullivan, Roger Boettcher, Alison Wardrop, Barb MacLeod, Lisa McDonald, Steve Cole, Tabatha Dominguez, Donna White, Janet Clemens-Hiltz, Elizabeth Ney, Lisa Hooper
Next Meeting: December 10, 2008 at 7:00 PM

2008-2009 Budget Review
The magazine campaign was significantly below where we were last year, therefore, instead of completely depleting it we will tighten up the budget by cutting back on one parent seminar, cutting back on the School BBQ costs, and putting the purchase of a mascot costume on hold for the time being; the cost of a mascot costume will still be investigated. Roger also suggested cutting the climate committee speakers as well as adding that the projection screen will not happen immediately as he is still looking into what other schools have purchased and the associated costs. Richard mentioned again that there isn’t much value in carrying a large amount of money forward and so spending for the wish list items at this point can go forward with the option to hold off later if necessary.

EQAO Results

• Roger wanted to put the EQAO results into a clearer perspective as per the board, demonstrating how quickly the numbers can change. He also added that we are unable to delve further into the data due to privacy and confidentiality, as well as the immensity of such a project, therefore he has analyzed the information and presented the main points relating to the final results.
• Roger presented the Board statement of beliefs with the overall goal of optimizing learning and achievement for all students. What all boards are finding is that while we are raising the bar we are having trouble closing the gap. All boards are finding that struggling students are not coming up as quickly as those students that were already performing at the expectation, hence we need to become more specific and precise in our targeting. In effect, the board has put forward the following goals:
• Goal 1: Improve Written Communication (Raise the Bar);
• Goal 2: Improve Written Communication for Specified Groups (Close the Gap) – specifically in primary;
• When looking at the result graphs, what we see is that across the board and across the province things have plateaued although there are different perspectives on this. Therefore, a lot of reflective practice is required about why teachers are using specific approaches to teaching as administration wants to see the purpose behind the practice. Consequently, classroom focus for the week is posted in the hallways so that everyone is more aware and teachers are consciously thinking about what and why they are teaching what they are.
• Grade 3 results are reasonable even with a drop in writing as they are above board and provincial levels.
• Grade 6 has somewhat of a decline in achievement which is cause for concern as this was not similar to board or provincial results. CAT 3 reading assessment with current Grade 7 class (mixed with Saginaw) most recent assessment shows these same students back up to par with the board. Roger added that the CASI results are also being reviewed in order to see if there are any common trends with these students in particular.
• Grade 3 results show no students at level 1 in writing, however the school has been mandated to look at moving students at Level 2 up in achievement levels by targeting them in particular. This will be attempted through practical teaching practice by using target students as a means of tracking success. It is also important to note that the Grade 6 results are heavy in the level 2 area in all areas.
• Looking at using report card data as guidance we can find representation over time of how our students are performing. According to report cards, achievement at Level 3 and Level 4 during Term 1, 84% and 93% for Grade 3, and Grade 6 was 81% and 83%. This is significantly different than the EQAO results for the same students. What factors are playing into this – EQAO does not take into account exempt students or students that are pulled by parents based on their own personal reasons and feelings about standardized tests.
• EQAO has also uses raw scores for every child, ie. 2.3, 3.7 etc. but you only see 2 or 3 used in the final tally. This discrepancy doesn’t show up on the bar graph statistics as when the number of students sitting at 2.7 or 2.9 is compared, our numbers would significantly increase and this would then validate the difference in the standardized test versus the report card results.
• OFIP School Designation (Ontario Focused Intervention – Category 3 School – looks particularly at EQAO for static or declining/low performing – the board does not have any cat. 1 schools, it does have many cat. 2 schools, and Roger is okay to have been designated a cat. 3 school, as it provides the school with extra resources, ie. 77 more occasional teacher days to free up staff for professional learning.
• Some parents discussed why there isn’t more consistency between teachers about tools, ie. Rubrics for assignments or tests – Roger and Alison both mentioned that rubrics aren’t always the best way of assessing something, but they do agree that they are important and Alison added that collaborative learning groups are trying to come up with common rubrics. Alison added that the big push is on differentiated instruction , therefore teaching to the needs of the individual makes it more difficult for technical rubrics in the curriculum documents to fit a particular class/school, but can still be used as a foundation.
• Roger feels that collaborative planning has gained momentum and teachers are much more on board with this – there is much more eagerness.
• Richard and Elizabeth asked whether there was a difference between immersion or split classes, and Roger spoke to the difficulty in separating the statistics without having to go through each student one by one.

Lunch Lady

• Missed out on PD Days (we used to do Thurs);
• 35 cents per meal goes to the school, but we get 10% as that was what we were told in the beginning;
• The Lunch Lady Franchise is trying to standardize the program and pricing across the province;
• Richard would like the school to benefit more, but they are sensitive due to the standardizing across the province, but we will continue to negotiate;
• Will print monthly rather than bi-monthly to avoid the sticker shock;
• May consider East Side Marios on another day of the week or special menus, ie. Christmas or Carnival Day;
• The one thing that we like about Lunch Lady is that it is maintenance free;

Treasures Book

• About 280 books outstanding
• About 6 per class outstanding except gr. 8’s
• Steve asked that teachers remind the kids before the weekend
• 5600-5800$ compared to 10 last year. – probably not anywhere near last year;
• We need to reinforce that these campaigns buy the wishlist items;

Local program comes up short in French instruction

Waterloo Region's public school board doesn't actually offer an elementary French immersion program as far as the Ministry of Education is concerned.

That's one of the pieces of information trustees heard last night as they debated how the board could retain more students in higher grades. They put off making a decision until their next meeting.

Consultant Wanda West-Gerber said the program as it is doesn't meet the province's definition of immersion because it comes up 328 hours short in French instruction. In Grade 7 and 8, less than half the day is spent in French.

At the current level, students aren't considered to be sufficiently prepared for high school French immersion.

Trustee Kathi Smith said she was disappointed staff didn't agree with a recommendation to try phasing in an immersion-only school, and that they aren't trying harder to attract immigrant parents who might see the value of their children learning multiple languages.

"My concern continues," she said. "We're not attracting students to French. That was the premise we started with."

December Council Meeting Agenda

When: December 10th, 2008
Where: Art Room
Time: 7:00-8:00 PM


Agenda:
1. Budget update– Ozzie (10 minutes)
2. Program reviews – Richard/Steve/All (20 minutes)
3. French Immersion program - Richard (10 minutes)
4. Tuck Shop - Richard (10 minutes)
5. Other – All (10 minutes)

All parents are welcomed to attend!