Public School DNS Filtering | CIPA Compliant E-Rate Student Safety

E-Rate Eligible & CIPA Compliant

Why Public Schools Need DNS-Level Content Filtering

The Children's Internet Protection Act requires every school receiving E-Rate funding to implement internet filtering that blocks content harmful to minors. DNS filtering meets this mandate at the most fundamental level of internet access, intercepting every domain request before content loads on student devices.

Modern school districts manage thousands of student devices across multiple campuses. Chromebooks travel between classrooms, go home with students, and connect to networks the district does not control. DNS filtering follows every device regardless of location, ensuring CIPA-compliant protection whether a student is in the school library or on their home Wi-Fi.

With 90 million domains classified across 58 filtering categories, our service gives district technology directors granular control over what students can access at every grade level. Elementary students receive the strictest filtering, while high school researchers can access broader resources with appropriate safeguards still in place.

CIPA Compliance & E-Rate Requirements

Satisfy federal funding mandates with DNS-level content filtering across your district

CIPA Content Filtering

CIPA mandates that schools block visual depictions that are obscene, contain child pornography, or are harmful to minors. Our 58 filtering categories provide the granularity needed to satisfy each CIPA requirement, with pre-configured school profiles that map directly to federal compliance standards and document filter decisions for audits.

E-Rate Eligibility

Schools must certify CIPA compliance on FCC Form 486 to receive E-Rate discounts. Our filtering provides the documented internet safety policy enforcement that E-Rate auditors expect to see, with comprehensive logging that proves continuous compliance and automated reports formatted for E-Rate submission requirements.

FERPA Student Data Protection

Student browsing data constitutes an education record under FERPA. Our DNS filtering stores all query logs with enterprise-grade security, restricts access to authorized district personnel, and provides data retention controls that align with your district data governance policies and state student privacy laws.

COPPA Compliance Support

Schools acting as agents for parental consent under COPPA must ensure students under 13 do not access services that improperly collect personal information. DNS filtering blocks known COPPA-violating services and prevents students from reaching platforms that the district has not vetted for appropriate data collection practices.

Features Designed for K-12 School Districts

Tools that technology directors, teachers, and administrators actually need

Grade-Level Filtering Policies

Apply age-appropriate filtering by grade band. Elementary students receive strict filtering blocking social media, gaming, and mature content. Middle school policies relax slightly for research. High school students access broader resources with targeted restrictions on explicit and dangerous content.

Teacher Override Controls

Teachers can temporarily bypass specific category blocks for legitimate instructional purposes. A health teacher can unlock medical content for a lesson, then filtering automatically reinstates after the class period ends. All overrides are logged for administrator review.

Chromebook Fleet Management

DNS filtering extends to every Chromebook in your 1:1 program regardless of network connection. Students are protected at school, at home, at the library, and everywhere in between. No browser extensions required, just native DNS-level protection that cannot be bypassed.

SafeSearch Enforcement

Force Google, Bing, YouTube, and other search engines into SafeSearch mode at the DNS level. Students cannot disable safe search regardless of browser settings, ensuring that image and video searches return age-appropriate results across all search platforms.

Bell Schedule Integration

Automatically adjust filtering policies based on your school bell schedule. Tighten filtering during instructional periods, allow broader access during lunch and after school for extracurricular activities, and lock down all non-educational access during testing windows.

Self-Harm Alert System

Receive immediate alerts when students attempt to access self-harm, suicide, or crisis-related content. Designated counselors and administrators are notified in real time so they can intervene and provide support before a situation escalates, turning DNS logs into a student wellness tool.

90M+

Domains Classified

58

Content Categories

K-12

Grade-Level Policies

24/7

On & Off Campus

School District DNS Filtering Scenarios

How K-12 districts deploy DNS filtering for student safety and compliance

1

District-Wide 1:1 Chromebook Program

A district with 15,000 Chromebooks issued to every student K-12 deploys DNS filtering across the entire fleet. Elementary devices receive strict filtering blocking all social media, gaming, and mature content. Middle school Chromebooks allow educational video platforms. High school devices permit broader access with targeted restrictions. All devices are protected on and off campus through our roaming client.

2

Elementary School Campus Network

An elementary school with shared computer labs, classroom tablets, and a media center configures DNS filtering at the router level, instantly protecting every device on the campus network. Library computers receive a slightly more permissive policy for supervised research while classroom devices stay locked to educational domains. Teacher workstations operate under staff policies with override capabilities.

3

High School BYOD Environment

A high school allowing students to bring personal devices to campus uses DNS filtering on the school Wi-Fi network to enforce CIPA compliance on every connected device, regardless of ownership. Students connecting personal phones, tablets, and laptops to the school network receive the same age-appropriate filtering applied to district-owned devices, maintaining compliance without managing individual student devices.

4

Testing Day Lockdown

During standardized testing periods, the district technology director activates a testing lockdown DNS policy that restricts all student devices to only the testing platform domain and essential infrastructure services. This DNS-level lockdown prevents students from accessing search engines, communication tools, or any unauthorized resource during exams, functioning as a network-level testing security measure.

CIPA-Compliant DNS Filtering for Your School District

Protect students, satisfy E-Rate requirements, and give educators the tools they need. Deploy across your entire district in a single afternoon.

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DNS Filtering for Public Schools