Linking to Off-School Sites

If a school links to off-school sites, it needs to review them to make sure they are appropriate for students' use. Many children's sites are now using bridge pages to provide a transition from the protected environment to the Web or off-site sites. PBS Kids & Headbone are two very good examples of how a bridge page can work.

Essentially bridge pages say, "You are now leaving our site. While we have provided certain sites that we think will be of interest to you, you should know before proceeding that these sites are not endorsed by us, may not treat your personal information responsibly, & may have changed since we reviewed them for appropriateness. Once you decide to proceed, you're on your own. So surf safely." (Of course, they do this more artfully, but the essential issues are covered.)

Even if your school decides that a bridge page isn't for them, the school should disclose to parents that children can access nonschool sites, & that although the school reviewed those sites to determine if they were appropriate at the time the links were set up, sites can change, or may no longer be operational, & the school cannot control what happens at those sites. The school has to be sure to tell the parents & kids that use of those sites is at their own risk. For these reasons, it might be better not to link to off-school sites unless the school intends to maintain those links regularly.