When Franklin County students break the rules online, Jimmy Pack can block the Web sites they're using, lock their computers or review screenshots of the violation " all from behind his desk.
Pack and Frankfort Independent's Tim Smith, both chief information officers for their school districts, have worked for months to implement Impero, a program that lets them monitor Internet use on school computers from their central office work stations.
For about $3 per computer, Impero works alongside Franklin County's proxy filter and other site-blocking software to report instantly when students try to jump over virtual barriers.
"Mostly it's the older kids trying to get around the rules," Pack said Monday, as he looked through a list of more than 300 alerts, streaming in real-time onto his computer screen.
"And the middle school kids using the f-word, plain and simple."
The most frequent violation occurs when students try to bypass the proxies that block certain Web sites, Pack said.
Items like pornography, hate group pages, gambling and other gaming sites have always been banned, but social networks like Facebook and Myspace are blocked now too.
"If there's a will, there's a way," Smith said. "And they will find a way around things."
Streaming video via YouTube and music sites is another common problem, Pack said, followed by online gaming.
And when a student types certain keywords - in a Google search, or even a Word document - it shows up as a violation on Pack's computer. Profanity, sexual language and words like "kill," "fight" or "suicide" prompt and automatic screen shot, which is sent to Pack and Smith for review.
"We try to assure everyone that the tools we are using are for the benefit to make things work better," Pack said. "Does it provide some extra "Big Brother' type of activities? Yes it does."
But Pack says he tries to emphasize that Impero can do hundreds of things, like shutting down unused computers to save energy, and offering virtual technology support - keyword monitoring is just one function.
"The purpose is to help them focus on the education side first, and not use it as a toy - they can do that at home," he said.
"They should have time to explore and be kids, but if they're in a lab with a class full of students, I can't see the benefit of them playing games, doing chat, or going to Myspace and updating their profile."
On average, there are between 100 and 200 legitimate policy violations per day in Franklin County schools, Pack said, though most aren't serious. He thinks that number will decrease as more students become aware of the software, and as the district implements curriculum to teach "digital citizenship."
Smith said that lesson could help students as they move on to college or the workplace.
"Students have to understand that they're part of this 21st century environment that they have to look at where they're at and understand that their use of electronic tools is determined by their environment," Smith said.
"I think they realize very quickly that there is an appropriate way to act and interact in an online environment at school versus at home."
But there are also hundreds of "false alarms" that result when a student accidentally clicks a banned link or an advertisement, and profanity can show up in search engine results for the most innocent of topics.
On Monday, one student searched for "raccoon" and got an expletive-laden rant about the pesky critters.
Other young students entered questions like, "How is hail made in the sky?" and "How can a Jack Russell do good tricks?" and set off the program's keyword monitor with some four-letter results.
Kids aren't punished for violations like that, Pack said.
For now, Pack and another central office staffer oversee Impero. When serious violations pop up, he forwards the information on to school principals or counselors.
He hopes to turn most of that responsibility over to school administrators by the start of the fall semester.
"The human process has to be involved," he said. "If you take a classroom of students to a lab, the teacher or whoever is in charge has to continually monitor the students, just like you normally do in a classroom."
Most violations happen during the school day, Pack said, not before or after school, when students access computer labs and library stations on their own. Even with advanced software, there's no way for to catch everything on a daily basis, he said.
Whenever possible, Pack said computer monitors are out in the open where they are visible to teachers.
"Ideally, that's where all the monitoring takes place," he said.
But if students get onto a site anyway, administrators will be alerted, and they can block it instantly, Pack said.
"As soon as they go back or forward on a page, it's gone," he said. "The frustration level - you can see it through the screen. They try over and over again, but they're blocked."
Students and staff in both districts sign an acceptable use policy every school year, which defines the limits and expectations of their Internet use. Students can temporarily lose their online rights if they break the rules, Pack said.
Pack said he plans to update Franklin County's policy for the coming school year to include information about the new software and bans on social networks like Facebook and Myspace.
"That (access to social networks) has caused several issues with cyber bullying, threats, harassment, things of that sort," Pack said. "It's not a huge problem, but it does exist, as it does everywhere."
Staff members have more freedom online than students. Administrators sometimes check Facebook or Myspace when students claim they are being harassed online, and teachers often use streaming educational video or online games in the classroom.
"If they need to use that as a presentation tool, it's there," Pack said.
Impero is up and running in 1,300 of Franklin County's 2,000 computers. School administrators at five local schools have stations to monitor use, and Pack hopes to have it in place district-wide by the start of the coming school year.
The software is active in Frankfort Independent's 450 computers at no cost through a pilot project. Smith said he hopes to determine a contract for future school years.
Both school systems started installing the programs last fall.
"I think it's curtailed some of the inappropriate use that would have occurred otherwise," Smith said. "It kind of changes the way they think and feel about the school network and using it more for teaching and learning."