Contact 
Calendars
Careers
Engage 
District
Lightspeed/Home WiFi Issues
In order to connect to home WiFi networks, students must set up their devices correctly at school. All students will be connected to Lightspeed, the county’s safety filter. Lightspeed works in school and at home. Lightspeed can also work with any current restrictions you might have on your home Internet.
Middle School Student Technology Handbook
Parent Vue Mobile App
ParentVUE/StudentVUE District URL is https://vue.apsva.us/
Any questions regarding your ParentVue account credentials should be directed to the school registrar Ms. Mejia.
Canvas Overview for Students and Guardians
APS Digital Learning Initiative: Answers to why we are taking a digital path and where we hope it leads us.
Arlington County Public Schools Digital Learning Initiative Website
Some Suggestions for Managing Devices at Home
- Familiarize yourself with the device. Read about it, find out what it can do, play with it yourself. Have your child show you how he or she uses it. It is a great opportunity to learn from one another and open lines of communication.
- Talk about Internet safety with your student. Discuss appropriate vs. inappropriate use. You can talk about how this device is given to your student by APS, so it should be valued as an instructional tool. Only apps approved by the county and our teachers should appear on the device.
- Create nightly routines and scheduled screen time just as you would set up homework times with your student. Set boundaries. You own the iPad, it does not own you. 🙂
- Communicate with your student and set clear expectations of use from the beginning. When students fall short of these expectations, be prepared to have reasonable consequences as you would for any other rule broken in your home. Please know that as we progress with this pilot program, however, teachers are relying on iPads for daily classroom use. Not allowing the iPad to be carried to school would be problematic. Some school consequences of inappropriate use include: calling home, deleting of apps, complete resetting of an iPad, and administrative referral.
- Always supervise student when he or she is using the iPad. It can be expected for your student to use the device for homework, but it will never be an expectation to rely on Wi-Fi access. Only allow students to use home Internet if you are comfortable with it. Many iPad assignments can be substituted with personal computer use, if you prefer that medium.
- Monitor your own screen time. Set good examples of how devices can positively impact your home life, and discuss when and how screen time becomes a negative distraction.
- Collect iPad from student after designated screen time. Maybe charge it while it rests on your child’s backpack in your room, so it will be ready to go in the morning.
- Talk up trust and self-regulation. The ultimate goal of this program is to have students learn how to monitor themselves as they learn to make better life decisions. They may fall short of our expectations at times but as we know, these are important life lessons to learn. And in the end, we hope to see them rise to the occasion. We need to support them as they become better digital citizens.
Resources on iPads
- iPad Basics from GCFLearnFree.org
https://www.gcflearnfree.org/ipadbasics - iPad Basics Presentation
https://www.slideshare.net/j_villis/i-pad-basics-24169115 - 17 iPad Tips and Tricks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKRN-W-ro4M
Digital Citizenship Resources
- Privacy and Internet Safety
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/privacy-and-internet-safety - Digital Citizenship iBook
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum