Coronado Unified School District students will lose free access to YouTube, gaming sites and social media on school devices starting in January 2027.

The restrictions, announced in late October, will limit YouTube on all district-issued devices to teacher-approved links only, according to a report in the Islander Times, the Coronado High School student newspaper. New filters on the CUSD Wi-Fi will also block certain searches on campus.

Superintendent Karl Mueller said the blockers were developed in partnership with teachers and administrators. He said district website filters had found that recent YouTube searches on district devices "have been for gaming sites, social media, and/or personal entertainment."

Mueller also said the district found that students had conducted "highly offensive, inappropriate, and derogatory searches." Those searches, he said, "directly contradict our focus on learner-centered technology use, serve as a distraction to instruction, and, at times, have provided content which erodes the very culture we strive to provide for our students."

Mueller described the policy as aligned with the district's goal that "student use of district-issued devices should be purposeful and for curriculum engagement, assigned research, or interactive learning tools."

Teachers flag planning burden

The new filters will affect both staff and students, according to Claudio Salas, the computer science and cybersecurity teacher at Coronado High School.

Salas said the restrictions should help teachers by keeping students from browsing non-academic videos during class. But he flagged a practical concern: teachers who want to show a YouTube video in a lesson will need to request that it be unblocked by the IT department ahead of time.

The timeline worries him.

"There's videos that we want to watch," Salas said. "Sometimes if they may be unblocked already and when we use them for the lesson, they might be blocked, or we did not get them unblocked in time by IT department because there's just not enough time."

He added that educational videos could get caught in the filter by mistake: "Sometimes there will be educational videos that might accidentally get blocked … so I'm sure it's going to take a bit to even things out."

Salas also noted that as of late October, existing website filters were already causing problems for both teachers and students. Teachers have "elevated access to other things that students don't," he said, "but as of right now, we're all having issues with" the filters. He said he hopes those problems will be resolved when the new blockers take effect.

Broader tech push

The internet restrictions follow other recent CUSD technology moves. At the board's Oct. 15 meeting, Mueller presented data from a technology audit and outlined recommendations for a Draft Technology Use Plan, according to Coronado News CA coverage of that meeting. Those recommendations included defining clear district AI parameters, strengthening parent awareness and exploring digital wellness protocols.

The CUSD Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet Thursday, Nov. 12, at 4 p.m. in the District Office Board Room.