As of Monday, Columbia Public Schools students were no longer able to access Twitter at school through the district Wi-Fi.
“It came to our attention that there were a couple of things coming through on Twitter that we didn’t want coming through,” CPS spokesperson Michelle Baumstark said. “So we have temporarily included Twitter in our filter so that it cannot be accessed.”
Teachers commonly use Twitter as a part of their curriculum, which is why the site wasn’t blocked like Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites.
Baumstark says the instructional technology staff is speaking with teachers about what they need when it comes to Twitter. She says the district plans on adjusting the filter to suit those needs.
The filter that the district uses can filter certain types of content, as well as filter by grade level. Baumstark says the district may decide to use either of those functions when making exceptions to the Twitter ban.