IMPORTANT COMPUTER DEVICE UPDATE (NEW THIS YEAR!)
We are excited to announce that JA will now be providing on-campus classroom devices beginning by September 7th. This decision was made to create consistency within classrooms, allow for increased security measures, and decrease family expenses. School chromebooks will only be available for on-campus use, will not be assigned as a personal student device, and will not be taken home.

What does this mean for families? Students may need their own device temporarily on-campus until September 7th. Once we have school chromebooks ready in classrooms, students will only need an at-home device.  Student’s personal devices will not be allowed on campus for use. 

We thank you for your patience as we get all new devices ready for classrooms. Should you have difficulty providing a student device, please contact Jen Davis, Technology Coordinator, jdavis@jajags.com to discuss possible options.

Chromebooks for home use
If you choose a Chromebook for home use, keep in mind that Chromebooks have Chrome's Auto Update Expiration (AUE). Currently, once your AUE date arrives, the Chromebook will no longer receive software updates from Google. These include security updates, bug fixes and new features. And with those updates, things like ChromeOS and browser apps and extensions might no longer function properly. Many companies offer specials on Chromebooks that were manufactured several years ago so you may buy a device with a shorter life. New devices are manufactured with 10 year AUE's but when purchasing a Chromebook make sure to check the expiration date. Google will publish a model’s AUE date on this page after its release, giving buyers time to make purchase decisions. Please check the AUE date when making a purchasing decision.

Technology Fee
The Technology Fee is to offset the cost of our high-speed internet lines, internet security filters, wireless routers, hardware and software programs that your student will use throughout the year along with unlimited printing.

Filtering and Monitoring
JA uses a SonicWall firewall to monitor and filter activity and content for students when they are in school and attached to the school network. Per the technology acceptable use policy, VPNs are not allowed on the school network. It is up to each family to decide how to filter and monitor personal devices.

Below are resources for families but none are required or endorsed by JA.

A Resource from All Connect for Parental Controls
Options for Parental Control Software(filtering and monitoring)
Directions for using the free Google Family Link for Chromebooks
If you have Xfinity with a Comcast gateway, use their filtering(directions)

Support for Internet Access through Xfinity or CenturyLink