Minarets High School is the home of purple and gold, but the colors do not stop there. Minarets is a tech school and with so much technology at their fingertips students have many great opportunities. Yet these opportunities come with responsibility. In an effort to hold students accountable to their tech and ensure they are being responsible, different colored computer groups were created.
All students start in green group. The green group provides students with access to the applications placed on their MacBook computers, that include messages, for eighteen hours a day. Settings for this group make students computers accessible to them during the hours of 7am to 12 am each day.
With approval from teachers and administration, purple group is distributed and awarded to students who follow the rules of the Minarets C’s and show professional behavior on and off of campus. Currently, only a select few students who have been chosen by Principal Daniel Ching and or Head of Charter Patrick Wilson have been granted purple group. These students will be able to log onto their computers and use all applications including Bluetooth, Facetime, and Messages from 6:00 am to 1:00 am.
Yellow group has been created to help students who need guidance with time management. Students in this group will have access to their computer from 8:00 am to 10 pm and they are limited to web browsing and work applications. “Students in this group need to concentrate daily on working 'bell to bell' in class,” states the official Minarets Charter and High School website.
The final and most restrictive group is red group, which only allows students access to their computer during school hours, 8:30 to 3:45 each day. It also has the same web browsing restrictions as yellow group and is assigned based on classroom/school behavior.
Weekend access is also tied to which group a student is assigned. Both green and yellow groups limit weekend access to five hours while purple group allows unlimited weekend hours. Red group receives no access to their computers on the weekends.
As mentioned, students are placed in groups according to their grades and behaviors on campus and in the classroom. Parents may have input on the placement of their child's computer group as well
When Minarets High School first opened in 2008, they had the following groups in place, red, yellow, and green onto students. “Mr. Niehoff and Mr. Corippo, the founding educators, felt a need to have these groups in place to help motivate and redirect students,” says Head of Charter Patrick Wilson. Purple group was added into the mix at the start of the 2016-2017 school year.
Wilson’s main goal is to have every student in purple group. He says, “The ultimate goal, is to have everyone be in PURPLE or beyond. If students maintain their work ethic, do work in class, focus and keep their grades up these groups wouldn't be needed.”
These limitations are created in three ways. Wilson explained that they use MDM, a Mobile Device Management software, to set time limits and block apps. The tech staff also uses Google Safe search to filter content and Youtube along with an internet service called SECURELY to limit website access.
The four computer color groups allow Minarets to reward those hardworking
students and also support those students that need guidance with time management. Unlike other school districts, this program is far less restrictive and gives students opportunity to self-correct their behavior.
Wilson also wanted to remind students to review the Technology Use Agreement that they signed at the start of the school year when registering.