Cabarrus board advances internet-safety policy on first read; staff says text is not blocked, monitoring is used

The Cabarrus County Board of Education advanced an internet-safety policy to second reading on Jan. 12 after district staff described layered filtering and monitoring tools and fielded board questions about the policy's wording.

Dr. Sandy Ward introduced Policy 32 26 42 0 5 and turned the presentation over to district technical staff. "We do not actively block or filter based on text," Mr. Stane said. "We block based on visual images and graphic images based on federal guidelines and policy. We have Zscaler... and on top of that there's an artificial intelligence component" to categorize uncategorized sites. He also noted the district uses Gaggle alerts to notify administrators when students type concerning content in email or Google Drive.

Board members expressed concern that the practice of not blocking on text was not explicitly spelled out in the policy and asked that the language be clarified during the public comment period before final adoption. The item was put forward on a first read; the board approved moving the policy to a second read by voice vote and invited public comment during the review period.

The transcript records the technical tools and monitoring approach but does not include a roll-call vote or a recorded tally; the board's decision on final policy language will be made at second reading after the public-comment window.