On the 25th of September, 2025, ChatGPT was blocked with Lightspeed from all student chromebooks. If you try to access the website now, you will be denied access from anything relating to ChatGPT. This has undoubtedly caused people to be moved by the random and sudden act as staff members haven’t stated that they were blocking it in the first place.
Out of 6 students that we asked, only 2 people said that they were fine with the block, which leaves the other 4 to say they were against the ban. Jett Mazenko said he was absolutely against the block, but Irie Cady said that he didn’t even use it. Students were mostly against the block as alternatives didn’t work as well as they wanted to, and ChatGPT helped them the most in achieving what they were searching for.
In an email written to Vice Principal Rachel Colsman, we asked why the administration decided to block ChatGPT and what their expected outcome was of the ban, and she said that “students were using ChatGPT to get around the firewall in order to search inappropriate topics.” and that there were a bunch of “discipline issues” that would transpire by people using the website. Her biggest goals with blocking ChatGPT is just to “make sure that school is a safe place for all students and this includes on the internet.”, which supports that ChatGPT could’ve been used for inappropriate things. If the blocking of ChatGPT concerns that other sites may be blocked, rest assured that Colsman is still fine with “school approved AI programs, like School AI”.
Though this isn’t an actual confirmation, Tyler Cordell, one of the librarians, suspected that ChatGPT was blocked because of how the school system pays for a lot of Google related things, and this includes Google’s own AI service, Gemini. This may include things like improved security and better encryption that makes it a safer option to use for the school system. When doing a Google search, you may recognize that Gemini is already in use at the top of most google searches.
With this giving insight on why the block was initiated, it’s important to make sure you’re being school-appropriate with the tools you are using, and to use these tools only in correct academic settings without plagiarizing and without using them behind a teacher’s back. Academic honesty is one of the best kind’s of honesty! And actual honesty.. that one’s important too.
