Several online games have been blocked on school Chromebooks. Some include Unlimited Wordle, Tetris, 8-Ball, Minecraft and chess games.

Sophomore Payge Lamborn believes the games are educational and should not be blocked.

“I don’t get why chess is being blocked. It is fun to play, but it is also kind of a learning game,” Lamborn said.

Junior Riley Wilson has tried to get in contact with technical support about unblocking these games but has had no luck.

“I have emailed them several times. I have gotten no response back which makes me think they have no answer for me,” Wilson said.

Lamborn feels it is okay to play games at certain times during the class period.

“I play games when I’m supposed to be working, but not when the teacher is teaching. I get stuff done quickly, so it gives me something to do,” Lamborn said.

Some teachers feel disrespected when they catch students playing games on their computers during class.

“In theory, I wouldn’t mind if students played games after they were done with their work. In reality though, students will try to pretend they are done with their work [to play games]. It’s just easier to not have them [games] at all,” English teacher Jason Mckenzie said.

“That is a choice they make [to play games during class]. But, don’t come to me with questions if you are not going to pay attention to my lesson,” math teacher Patrick McKinney said.

Certain students have strong beliefs on online games being blocked and have reasons why they should not be.

“Some games should be blocked if they are inappropriate. If they are appropriate, like chess, I don’t think it should be blocked,” Wilson said.

McKinney is open with his students playing educational games after their work is completed.

“People have downtime when they get done with their work early. A game, like chess or something mathematical, I have no problem with,” McKinney said.

In some classes, students do have the choice to play games or do their work. But, according to Wilson, all students cannot be punished for something one or two students did.

“You cannot punish a majority for the minority’s decision to not work. Personally, I finish my work, and if I don’t have anything else I need to do, I might play a game of chess with my friend,” Wilson said.

Technology Instructional Coach Nicholas Caminiti says he does not have much to do with games getting blocked.

“The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) law requires school districts to filter and block websites that are inappropriate, not directly related to the curriculum or considered a distraction to the learning process,” Caminiti said.

A popular game amongst students when there is no service is the dinosaur game.

“Teachers requested that it be blocked because students were playing the dinosaur game rather than completing their assignments,” Caminiti said.

The CIPA will continue to decide which games get blocked.

“The CIPA committee (made up of district administrators and technology personnel) checks which websites should be blocked or unblocked based on requests from students, teachers and school administrators,” Caminiti said.