1. You’re managing more than one filtering solution.  A poll by Lightspeed Systems® revealed that 60% of schools reported managing multiple filters simultaneously. That can place an unnecessary burden on school IT departments, especially if those filters require regular, hands-on maintenance. If your IT team is spending a lot of time adjusting policies and re-categorizing sites—and then having to duplicate their work across solutions—it’s probably time for a better web filter. 

2. You’re still swimming upstream against YouTube.  More than 500 hours of new video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Making sure that students are only able to access safe and appropriate content is a massive undertaking, especially since the reliability of video categorization and Google filtering can be hit-or-miss. An effective web filter should not only block content—including videos, thumbnails, and recommended videos—but should also let you customize your YouTube parameters and policies with granular controls specific to grades, classes, and more so your teachers can use YouTube as a safe learning resource. 

3. Stai eseguendo un proxy man-in-the-middle.  A reliable MITM proxy, PAC files, and trust certificates are necessary first steps to decrypt the internet traffic you’re trying to filter. But dealing with those steps shouldn’t weigh down your IT team—the right web filtering solution should handle those tasks, as well. The same rule should apply to most add-on services you might currently be employing. If you’re using a separate solution for student monitoring that doesn’t have the right context and AI, or if you keep adding hardware to fulfill your current solution’s needs, you may be creating unneeded complications for IT and unnecessary costs for your district. 

4. You have black holes in activity.  Schools need comprehensive, accurate reports that give insights into all student online activity, including search history and Google docs. These reports should be visual and easy to share with non-IT staff, and they should include enough detail that educators can drill down into any potential issues for investigation. But many people say that their top frustration with web filtering is the report features lack details or aren’t actionable enough. Choose the filter with the best reporting. 

5. Parents and teachers have questions or concerns.  When school devices go home, parents often have questions about online safety, web filtering, privacy dei dati degli studenti, screen time, and overall device usage. Your web filtering solution should provide you with clear, straightforward answers to those concerns, which can then be conveyed to parents without bogging down IT departments. Teachers may also have questions about how your web filtering will integrate into the classroom. The right solution will work with, not against, effective classroom management.