Teachers and students have found it impossible to access personal gmail accounts recently. Because of certain changes made by Google, district techs have blocked the use of such accounts.

“Due to recent changes made by Google, it became necessary for the district to make a security change to remain compliant with Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) guidelines,” ISD Director of Technology Tina Phillips said. “This policy change had to be made globally, affecting not only student, but also staff, policies. As a result non-Lovejoy Google accounts are not accessible while on Lovejoy networks.”

The change has kept some students from doing their work in a proper manner.

“Essentially, not having our usual Gmail accounts hinders our journalistic integrity,” sophomore and newspaper Editor-in-chief Jillian Sanders said. “I can’t email staff members or people I need to interview while in newspaper class. We usually send pictures for articles via Gmail, and now not having our accounts working in class makes it that much harder to get a story posted.”

Gmail is now available for teachers on macs, but others still wish that Gmail was functioning on all computers for certain reasons.

“It’s frustrating, but it bothers me only because when I’m on my off period, or before and after school, it would be nice to be able to get on to my personal email for appointments and other stuff,” math teacher Lindsay Weaver said. “It would be nice if they could fix it, but I’m not the person to say if they should or shouldn’t because I know they did it for a good reason.”

There are no plans for the block to be lifted, meaning students and teachers will continue to have to work around it.

“The district provides email for both teachers to conduct school business and for students for educational needs,” Phillips said. “Non-access to personal Gmail might be an inconvenience while on the school network, but is not required for normal school operations.”