Will students be allowed to use their personal laptops for school in the future, or will Chromebooks become the only option? Truckee High is buckling down on security and regulations over Chromebooks for the 2025-2026 school year.
You may have already heard your teachers mention some new rules about whether they want chromebooks or personal computers in their classroom. This is a result of our new school policies regarding students’ abilities to use their own laptops in school. In the eyes of students, it may seem unfair and unreasonable. Yet for teachers and administrators, they are most concerned about academic integrity and safety in an age of hacking, identity theft, tech scams and the infiltration of AI into everything we do.
“One of the biggest things for me as an administrator is trying to find ways that we can help students stay safe,” says Principal John Neuberger. “The programs that we have embedded in our networks and Chromebooks are things like Securly, that monitor what students are searching for, an important part of how we help students stay safe.”
In hopes of strengthening student safety and academic integrity, the updated policies introduce stricter login requirements, limits on content use and website access, and regulations governing the use of personal laptops compared with the school-issued Chromebooks.
As many have already noticed, signing into our school Google accounts looks a little different this year, and it takes longer to do so. Students have to login through Clever, first by signing in with their username and password, then going through multi-factor authentication by picking their animal and food linked to their account.
“Sometimes teachers expect us to sign in right away,” says sophomore Avery Buchanan. “But that is hard when it takes us nearly seven minutes to log on”.
Multi-factor authentication was added by the school this fall, specifically for the purpose of safety, related to student data.
“We’re giving you an account to use on your chromebook and we have to have a high level of security, because that’s your student record and your student data.” says Edward Hilton, Chief Technology Officer. “So any company that provides software for student use, such as Google, we have to have an agreement with them that protects your data and also how they use student data.”
Hilton explained that some things you can sign into Google with and others you cannot, primarily because the District does not have an agreement with those software companies and they are prohibited from accessing student data.
Truckee High School has also implemented further restrictions on social media or streaming websites this year with Securly. Following a new rubric, most popular websites like Instagram or Netflix are under a blocked category. Whether that is TV, social media, games, news, education.
However, because this is the most security our school has ever applied to Chromebooks, and the technology department is only a few weeks into working out the kinks of Securly while following Truckee High’s rubric, there have and will be some mistakes.
“They (school administrators) set the policy, and we implement the policy,” says Hilton. “It is not a perfect model. We are still finding good, secure sites that teachers and students use on a regular basis. And we don’t know unless somebody tells us.”
So if there are any frustrations over unreasonably blocked sites for academic use, Truckee High is on a “just ask your teacher, do not assume” basis right now.
Besides blocked sites, administrators hope that Chromebooks will overall be used in a more wise academic stance by students this year.
“We view chromebooks as a textbook. So treat it like an educational tool, not entertainment or a device for social media.” says Assistant Principal Alejo Padilla.
For the students who use their own personal laptops instead of the school Chromebooks, they are still allowed to use personal devices, but it is highly recommended that they use the school-issued Chromebook for security and network purposes. Our school uses the Cast network, which is internal and private, providing security through restricted access to students. The public network does not include some of these restrictions, meaning students who sign on with the public network are at an increased risk of data breaches and hackers because they have less protection.
“There are certain things at school that we have to legally block. And then there are certain things that by policy, the school administration has chosen to block. And because the Chromebooks are in a separate network, they connect to the internal network for security purposes.” added Hilton.
While the TTUSD’s technology department continues to hammer out the logistics of new security measures, Truckee High School’s administrators set these new policies with the intention of maintaining academic integrity and keeping students safer for the 2025-2026 school year.