"It's just one more thing that parents will have available to them to protect their children. And that's what everyone's golden aim on this is," said Downing Bolls, Taylor County judge.
The internet can be dangerous for children, that's why the Taylor County Commissioners approved the Zach Robinson grant money to be used to purchase about 1000 discs of online monitoring software for AISD parents.
"Basically parents will be allowed to upload on their computers," said Judge Bolls.
"When their children access sites throughout the day on their home computers, there will be a record kept of where, what websites were they went to and what they were looking."
The software, which will be available in schools, public libraries and public enforcement offices, will keep records of everything. Even sites and images kids delete.
"Even if a child looks at something they shouldn't be looking to, just by deleting it it's not going to go away. That record is going to be there that that website was visited and what time and things like that. So it really does let the parents know what the child is doing," said Judge Bolls.
Having this software available to parents could also help eliminate the anonymous bullying that happens on the web, something schools are trying to stop.
"In an effort to allow children not to be bullied, we certainly want to take steps in that direction," said director of AISD communications Phil Ashby.
But the biggest goal is to protect the children against the dangers of the internet that can't always be prevented.
"The peer system out there is a lot stronger than the parental system unfortunately, sometimes. And your children may be going places that you don't know. This gives you the opportunity to find out what your kids are doing when you're not standing there looking over their shoulders," Judge Bolls said.
The monitoring software should be available in the next month.
The internet can be dangerous for children, that's why the Taylor County Commissioners approved the Zach Robinson grant money to be used to purchase about 1000 discs of online monitoring software for AISD parents.
"Basically parents will be allowed to upload on their computers," said Judge Bolls.
"When their children access sites throughout the day on their home computers, there will be a record kept of where, what websites were they went to and what they were looking."
The software, which will be available in schools, public libraries and public enforcement offices, will keep records of everything. Even sites and images kids delete.
"Even if a child looks at something they shouldn't be looking to, just by deleting it it's not going to go away. That record is going to be there that that website was visited and what time and things like that. So it really does let the parents know what the child is doing," said Judge Bolls.
Having this software available to parents could also help eliminate the anonymous bullying that happens on the web, something schools are trying to stop.
"In an effort to allow children not to be bullied, we certainly want to take steps in that direction," said director of AISD communications Phil Ashby.
But the biggest goal is to protect the children against the dangers of the internet that can't always be prevented.
"The peer system out there is a lot stronger than the parental system unfortunately, sometimes. And your children may be going places that you don't know. This gives you the opportunity to find out what your kids are doing when you're not standing there looking over their shoulders," Judge Bolls said.
The monitoring software should be available in the next month.
