CIPA Update: FCC Releases NPRM for New CIPA Rules
Message Posted November 10, 2009

In October 2008, a new federal law -- "Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act" -- was passed which contained a new CIPA requirement that schools must teach online safety to students as a prerequisite to receiving E-rate funding. Until now, there has been no guidance from the FCC on how to implement this new law.

Last week the FCC released an NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) that proposes to simply require schools to certify to the SLD that their Internet Safety Policy includes educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response. We expect this certification to be added to the FY 2010 Form 486, which will give schools until July 1, 2010 to update their Internet Safety Policies.

As was expected, the FCC did not issue guidance on the extent to which online safety must be taught -- they are leaving this entirely up to each school to decide. For audit purposes, beginning with FY 2010, I recommend that school applicants keep documentation of how, when and to whom the online safety was taught.

The specific language in the new law states that Internet Safety Policies must include "... educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response." So if your Policy does not yet contain this or similar language, you should plan to update it in the coming months. And although not explicitly stated in the NPRM, I would recommend that the amendment to the school's Internet Safety Policy be adopted at a public meeting, after public notice has been given (to comply with the CIPA Public Notice requirement).

If you would like to submit comments to the FCC on this NPRM, such comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, and reply comments are due 15 days later. The FCC will then consider all comments and issue the final rules in the coming months. Given the lack of controversial provisions in the NPRM, I would not expect any changes in the final rules. FCC 09-96 (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-96A1.pdf).

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

-- Julie

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