Big Brother is watching you.

Throughout the school day at CHS, librarians monitor the use of computers by students in Lab B of the library.  For over 10 years, this monitoring of students computers has been taking place not only at CHS but also throughout the Clayton School District, with little notice from Clayton students.

“The thing we’re trying to do is help the students,” Head Librarian Lauran DeRigne, the Head Librarian at CHS, said.  “It’s a benefit to [the students] that we keep that lab for student use for school work and that is really what it’s needed for.”

DeRigne explained how throughout the school day, students use the computer lab as a place to do their homework.   However, when the labs are full, she explained that students who are unable to work on the computers become frustrated, especially when they see kids on the computers playing games and not being productive.

“When the labs are really full, we would like to make sure that there are enough computers for kids who want to do school work,” technology specialist David Hoffman said.  “So, that’s when we are more likely to monitor and kick off kids who are listening to music, watching movies, or downloading things.”

Hoffman also emphasized how some students rely on working in the computer lab because they do not have access to a computer at home.

“There are some students who need that time here because they don’t have technology at home,” Hoffman said.  “We don’t want kids wasting time on computers while other kids need to get work done before they go home.”

With more and more students playing games in the labs and the library continuing to become a louder more social environment, Principal Louise Losos also feels the library struggles between being a place for studying or socializing.

“The library always walks that fine line between being a place where kids can gather and be social and a place where students go to do research and work,” Losos said.  “And it needs to err on the side of research and work but not so much as to make it unwelcome to everyone else…I think [computer monitoring] is just another way they try to maintain this balance.”

In addition to monitoring computers, librarians can also check a student’s schedule to see if he or she is skipping class at that moment.

“Sometimes if there has been an issue with a student, we can look to see [his or her] schedule, but we don’t use remote desktop, so that’s really not monitoring computers,” DeRigne said.  “It’s more of, we know the student and where should they be because they are not doing any work right now.”

If the librarians see that a student is skipping class in the lab, they will immediately email the teacher of the class that the student is skipping and inform them that their student is in the library.

“I think teachers appreciate that fact the librarians are letting them know [that a student] is in here, [when] he’s supposed to be in your class right now,” Losos said.

However, some students have expressed concern for their privacy since the librarians are monitoring their computer screens in Lab B.

“It feels like they are standing over your shoulder,” Sophomore Stephanie Avery said.

Likewise, Sophomore Georgina Kluser feels invaded by the monitoring as she explained that the monitoring made her feel uncomfortable when she is trying to work in the lab.

Despite these concerns, DeRigne said that all students were required to sign the School District of Clayton’s Acceptable Use Policy, which states, “The district may monitor employee and student technology usage.  Electronic communications, all data stored on the district’s technology resources, and downloaded material, including files deleted from a student’s account, may be intercepted, accessed or searched by district’s administrators or designees at any time.”

Yet, Hoffman believes that very few students are actually monitored in Lab B.

“Percentage wise, there’s very little monitoring that is going on,” Hoffman said.  “I would say out of 100 students in the lab maybe one or two, percentage wise would be monitored…We don’t sit there just to monitor to try to catch people…It’s just not that widely used.”

However, the librarians are always on the lookout for any illegal electronic activity in the student computer lab whether it is a student illegally downloading a new hit song or a popular movie.

“If we do see kids downloading movies or music, that is highly illegal and we’ll stop them from doing that,” Hoffman said.  “That could be big trouble for the district.”

In the end, Losos agreed that monitoring computers in Lab B is necessary for sustaining a productive work environment in the labs; however, for a high school with an open campus, students should know that they could be monitored when using a computer in Lab B.

“I would hope that there would be a transparency,” Losos said.  “You ought to know when you go on the computers that this is a possibility.”