As recipients of E-Rate funding all schools in the SWWC Service Cooperative Wide Area Network are required to maintain CIPA Compliance. One of the critical components in becoming CIPA compliant is having an adequate content filtering policy. SWWC Service Cooperative currently utilizes Fortinet for our content filter, allowing us to maintain an enterprise class filtering solution for each school district on the Wide Area Network. Your school will be asked to complete an FCC Form 479 on an annual basis to document your CIPA compliance to the WAN Consortium.
In addition to the CIPA, Congress has enacted the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, which in addition to the standard CIPA requirements also requires that schools receiving E-Rate funding for services requiring CIPA Compliance (ie. Internet Service) also provide education to all students and staff on Internet Safety. SWWC offers resources as well as a reporting form to help maintain record of your school's Internet Safety activities with students and staff.
From the FCC
-The Commission revised section 54.520(c)(1)(i) to include the new certification requirement added by the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act. This provision requires a certification that a school’s Internet safety policy provide for the education of minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response. It declined to define or interpret the terms provided in the new statutory language, such as “social networking” or “cyberbullying.”
