The reluctant restrictor

This past week I've been working with teachers and others in the district to create a "restricted OU." An OU is an "organizational unit" and we place groups of people in them (elementary students, teachers, etc) and then assign filtering settings and other permissions to those groups.

With the expansion of our 1 to 1 Chromebook project to grades 6 through 8, there have been increased calls by teachers and parents for highly restricted access for some students. These kids are the ones who seem to have either begun digital communications deemed inappropriate (My daughter is emailing much older boys.) or lack the self-discipline to keep the computer from becoming a distraction in class or elsewhere (The kid plays games when he should be paying attention to my lecture.) Basically the call has been, "Give these students computer access to ONLY what they need to do their school work and nothing more."

This sets up a number of challenges for me as a proponent of intellectual freedom for students. Is what is considered necessary for school universally agreed upon by all teachers and parents? What valuable resources and activities are we denying these students when blocking categorically by our filter? How do students learn digital safety and self-control without the ability to practice them? What is to keep a student from being placed permanently in the restricted OU because of one bad day or one slip in judgment? Will students in the restricted OU have less concern about having a working device if all they can use it for is school work?

I also worry that we will be asked to create not just one restricted OU, but dozens, each uniquely fit to single individuals, acting, as we would call it in the library world, in loco parentis. (I want my child to have access to CNN but not Fox News. It's OK for my child to have Snapchat but not Instgram.)

Certain due processes are in place. To be placed in the restricted OU, the student must have a 504, an IEP, or a parent conference with the school principal. All of a student's teachers must agree to the placement. Requests can only come from building admins, not directly from parents or teachers. The settings of the restricted OU will be reviewed quarterly by our filtering committee. 

We have created the OU and it becomes active next week. I just fear the slippery slope we may be creating.

Any advice from other schools where these challenges exist?