Case Study
Pulaski County Special School District
How Pulaski County Enhanced Student Safety and Parent Collaboration
Meet Pulaski County Special School District
In the heart of Arkansas, Pulaski County Special School District (PCSSD) is recognized for its dedication to innovation and commitment to student success.
The district takes a forward-thinking approach to technology to personalize instruction, improve learning outcomes, and prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century.
PCSSD continually seeks to strengthen the bond between schools and families, a testament to the district’s belief that education is a shared responsibility—and that by working together as a community, we can help all students reach their full potential.
Summary
District Name:
Pulaski County Special School District
Enrollment:
12,000+
Teachers:
1,500+
Schools:
16 Elementary
4 Middle
1 Junior High (8th & 9th)
4 High Schools
1:1 Program:
Grades K-12: Chromebooks
Linewize Solutions:
Filter
Classwize
Monitor
Qustodio Parent App
“We’ve given these students technology and said ‘Here you go, you can take it home.’ I felt like, as a parent myself, you have to have that parental support after-hours with the device.”
Rachel Blackwell
Digital Learning Facilitator
The challenge: Giving IT, teachers, and parents appropriate control over student devices
With a 1:1 student device program in place, PCSSD recognized the need to be proactive in ensuring student safety and a secure digital learning environment.
IT & teachers needed better oversight of student device usage
Once the district rolled out their 1:1 program for students, they sought a more comprehensive approach to managing device use—across IT, teachers, admins, and parents.
“We can’t ignore what’s happening on the devices, and we decided to be active in looking at products that do that,” shares Rachel Blackwell, Digital Learning Facilitator.
They began by seeking better filter capabilities and classroom management, to allow teachers more control in the classroom without draining IT time and resources.
Student online safety risks weren’t easily visible
The district also prioritized seeking a threat detection solution, recognizing the importance of catching at-risk student behavior.
“We don’t want to be oblivious to what’s going on in the background. The students are doing things and some of them are hurting in ways that we couldn’t imagine if we weren’t getting the alerts,” adds Bobby Dunn, IT Engineer.
Parents wanted more control over students’ digital activity
PCSSD understood that parents desired “more guardrails around their evening activities” and they sought a way to provide parents with greater visibility and control over their children’s online activities.
The district’s existing solution wasn’t giving them what they needed. “Our previous product did have a parent app, but it was ‘view-only’ and we had low adoption—very few parents downloaded that app,” says Dunn.
“We wanted better control of our filter and in the process, we found the parent app. We started asking, ‘What else does Linewize have to offer?’ After we looked at Monitor’s student safety aspect, we decided we couldn’t choose a different product.”
Bobby Dunn
IT Engineer
The solution: Deploying Linewize’s suite of products to support student online safety holistically
“We went with Linewize because of the robust student safety portion they offer, over what other solutions have,” Dunn says.
PCSSD worked with Linewize to deploy a suite of tools designed to create a safer digital environment for all students:
- Linewize Filter: Blocks inappropriate content, ensuring students are not exposed to harmful materials online.
- Classwize: Integrates with the Filter, enabling teachers to monitor and control student internet usage and block/ unblock educational sites during class time.
- Linewize Monitor: Tracks student online behavior for risks, alerting school staff in real time to safety risks and enabling timely interventions.
- Qustodio Parent App: Enables parents to monitor and manage their children’s internet activity on their school-issued device, along with free coverage for a personal device
“We had a very smooth implementation with Qustodio and Linewize in general. We had two people from Linewize assigned to our district. When we sent an email or called, they were right there, ready to help.”
Bobby Dunn
IT Engineer
Helping teachers navigate new EdTech
PCSSD’s deployment strategy included teacher training, emphasizing how each product complements the others.
As the Instructional Technologist (and former teacher), Blackwell showed teachers how the integration between Linewize Filter and Classwize allowed them to grant temporary access to websites such as Spotify during class, eliminating the need to engage the IT department for these requests.
“When teachers understand how all the things connect, between the filtering, the monitoring alert system, and the parent side of it—I think they realize how much better this is than what they were used to before.”
Overcoming concerns about sharing visibility with parents
Before rolling out Qustodio, the district did a month-long proof of concept. “It was so easy. Parents are getting updated every week. We don’t have to do anything,” Blackwell explains. “It was important to us to have that transparency. We’re not trying to hide anything from you about what your kids are doing during the day.”
At first, some teachers and staff worried that sharing more data may invite criticism from parents, but Blackwell and Dunn say that hasn’t been the reality. “Parents alert us when students are accessing things that they certainly shouldn’t be, and sometimes we could miss those in the log files,” states Dunn.
Blackwell says it’s helped improve partnership between teachers and parents, adding, “We’ve even had some situations where a parent has called to say, ‘I’m seeing that in your classroom, my kid is on YouTube when they weren’t supposed to be.’ It helps to have those conversations between parents and teachers, to make sure students are focused on learning.”
“Some were concerned that if parents could see more, they would complain more. What we found though, is that’s not the case. Having that extra set of eyes on what the students are accessing has really been a huge benefit.”
Bobby Dunn
IT Engineer
The outcome: Educators and parents become true partners in online student safety
Teachers have more control in the classroom with Classwize
“With Classwize, teachers can see and view the Chromebooks and tabs of what students in their room are doing in real time,” Dunn says. “And the teachers have the ability to block or unblock app websites.”
The district IT team may block a website, deeming it potentially harmful for students to use unsupervised, but enable their teachers to allow it while they’re in the classroom and actively monitoring the students. “Our teachers have way more control, function, and capability.”
Counselors and admins have peace of mind with real-time safety alerts
PCSSD’s counselors and district staff feel assured that Monitor, and Linewize’s team of human moderators, are looking out for student online safety 24/7.
Dunn expresses the peace of mind he feels from “being able to get a phone call from a human at 2 o’clock in the morning, saying a student has done something that is a level 5 alert and we wanted to make sure that somebody knew about it, and it didn’t wait until 8 o’clock in the morning.”
PCSSD counselors now have more insight into what’s going on in their students’ lives, and are able to provide much better information to the parents to support students’ mental health, not just educational health.
Teachers and parents collaborate to help students succeed
"Qustodio has been a lifeline between the home and the school,” Blackwell says. “When a parent calls with a question or a concern, the parent app helps the conversation to not be a defensive one. We get to tell them, ‘Did you know that we provide this for you?’”
Blackwell shares that one parent even collaborated with the district to come up with the concept of a ‘penalty box’ for their student. “He knew that his student needed more boundaries, and he helped us build those and learn together. And we’ve used that district-wide now.”
Parents are informed with automatic, weekly emails
The implementation of Qustodio resulted in a notable increase in parent engagement, as families became better informed about their children’s online activities. “After the initial email we sent out, parents are getting updated every week and we don’t have to do anything,” Blackwell says.
“It’s so easy for us to say, ‘Look in your inbox or junk mail for this email.’ And once they see it, and realize we have been informing them every week, it takes the pressure off. They realize we’ve been here, trying to help them.”
Not only can parents see what’s happening on the school device, but they can also add a personal device for their child to put boundaries there, as well.
“That was an important piece that helped our parents realize, we’re helping them with something that they may not be able to provide otherwise,” Blackwell says.
Dunn agrees: “The bond between parents and district has greatly benefited from the parent app.”
“Linewize has helped us create a partnership between parents and our district, to make sure we’re protecting and supporting students at home and in school.”
Rachel Blackwell
Digital Learning Facilitator
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