San Diego Unified may be able to restore school access to Google tools such as Gmail or Google Docs within the next few weeks, according to an e-mail from the company.
The school district blocked Google services in late May because of a change in Google features that could inadvertently allow kids to see pornographic images, despite filters. Teachers and students who rely on those tools to edit documents and do class projects were peeved by the block.
Darryl LaGace, who oversees technology in San Diego Unified schools, passed along an e-mail from Jaime Casap, a Google employee with the entertaining title of “Education Evangelist.” Casap told LaGace a fix was coming “within the next few weeks” and could come as soon as this week.
Time is of the essence: Many schools are rapidly nearing summer break and some teachers had hoped to use Google tools for end-of-the-year projects such as blogs or student websites.
— EMILY ALPERT