MCS Online Safety Hub

Monroe County Schools is continually committed to developing an atmosphere of trust among our parent community, in our ability to provide not only a positive and enriching educational experience but a safe place for students to thrive too.

That is why we have partnered with Linewize, a leading global provider of online safety products and education, to create an educational hub for parents and teachers. This hub includes articles, videos, courses, and more, to ensure you know how to keep your kids safe online.

Learn about Popular Apps & Games

Do you know what digital content your child might be exposed to? By browsing our App & Game Reviews, you can learn about what exactly each app and game is, and how safe it may or may not be. This feature is designed to inform parents about these games from a trustworthy source - Linewize's experts, which include certified digital wellness educators, former law enforcement, former teachers, online safety experts, and more. These experts will write articles to explain to you, the parent, what the app is used for, how safe or dangerous it might be, and what you can do to make sure that your child is safe.

A selection of various games and apps, showcasing the variety of options on our online safety hub.

As an example, here is a snippet of the page for Minecraft, a popular video game. The article contains explanations, guidelines, known risks, and some explanations on how to turn on useful safety features.

An overview of Minecraft, by Cyber Expert Reviewer: Teodora Pavkovic, a certified digital wellness educator. The content below reads as follows: Minecraft is a popular gaming app, where the app itself is an alternative to the full version of Minecraft which can be played on consoles and PC. Kids create a world and use resources found in the game to make this world into a thriving community. The game features fictitious characters such as monsters, however they are presented as lego-looking characters so most young players won’t be distressed by this. The main consideration for parents is the chat feature. Players have a choice to either chat with strangers or limit chat to people they know. Kids should setup a private server, and parents should be vigilant in checking if their child has allowed strangers to join.

Each review has a handy "Known Risks" section to easily explain the various risks and the severity of those risks.

Known Risks of Minecraft, ranking each risk from 0-5. In the list, it gives Sexting & Hook-ups a 0, Privacy & Security a 1.5, Adult Content a 1, Online Bullying a 3, Deception a 0, Violence a 0.5, Predators a 1.5, Gambling a 0.5, Costs a 2, and Screen Time a 4.5.

Guides and Resources for Parents

There are many articles explaining the various terms and activities to watch out for while your child is on their digital journey. These articles are written by experts and go over a variety of useful information.

Parent Home > Parent Advice > Information & Guides > Online Safety Guides > A parent's guide to screen time. In the digital world, finding the right screen time balance is a major concern for most parents. Here's what to consider.

PARENT HOME > ONLINE SAFETY TECH > GUIDES > YouTube Restricted Mode YouTube’s ‘Restricted Mode’ is a setting available within YouTube that is used to automatically filter out recognised adult content and hide comments across all videos.