Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD) administration blocked BetterCampus in early September in an effort to protect school programs.
BetterCampus, a Chrome extension previously known as BetterCanvas, was used by many students at Carlmont before it was blocked.
The extension adds additional features to Instructure Canvas, an existing platform used by educators and students. Instructure Canvas, also known simply as Canvas, enables students to view their grades, upcoming assignments, and teacher announcements.
“I depended on BetterCampus to organize my to-do list, and it provided a necessary burst of dopamine when I had completed something. But the normal Canvas is just so unorganized and very unaesthetic,” said Allison Streb, a sophomore at Carlmont.
BetterCampus offers features such as dark mode, a GPA calculator, and a to-do list that are not available on Canvas. It also allows students to customize their homepage with different colors and pictures.
Many Carlmont students disagree with the decision to block BetterCampus, arguing that the extension helped them with school. The administration didn’t block the extension baselessly, however.
Gregg Patner, an Administrative Vice Principal at Carlmont High School, explained that various methods, including phishing — a type of cybercrime where criminals impersonate legitimate organizations or individuals to trick people into revealing sensitive information — had compromised the school’s infrastructure. Outside programs, combined with phishing, enabled individuals to infiltrate and compromise the critical programs that the school operates.
“The district has chosen to take a step back and say that we need more guardrails. Certain applications have been cut off in the process of doing that,” Patner said. “One of those applications was BetterCanvas.”
Negative consequences have emerged from the blocking of BetterCampus. Students have said that they struggled after the extension was blocked by the administration.
“After BetterCampus was blocked, I was so distraught from not being organized that it impacted my work,” Streb said. “I couldn’t figure out what was due because Canvas is just not very well organized.”
Despite these complaints from students, the administration has yet to unblock BetterCampus. Some extensions that had been previously blocked by the administration have become usable again. It is unclear whether or not BetterCampus will ever be unblocked.
“We recognize that BetterCampus did provide support to some students, but the question was, is that support something that we’re willing to expose ourselves for?” Patner said.
The administration will ensure that their systems are safely running again before deciding on their next steps, according to Partner. In the meantime, students continue to see the effects of not having access to BetterCampus.
“I wish that I still had a to-do list,” said junior Clara Lewis. “Now I’m not really on top of my stuff.”
