New Henrico Schools software will allow teachers to see and control what students are doing on their computers in real time

In August, Henrico Schools will install new software on students’ school-issued devices that will allow teachers to view what students are actively doing on their screens and what websites a student has opened.

The new software – Securly Classroom – will be a “powerful tool” to help teachers keep students on task during class, said HCPS Director of Technology Brian Maddox. Securly Classroom is an extension of Securly, a digital security program that filters out prohibited websites, which all HCPS students and staff already have downloaded onto their devices. 

When opening Securly Classroom, a teacher will be provided a dashboard featuring all of the screens of the students in their classroom. The teacher can zero in on an individual student’s screen to see exactly what they are doing and what other tabs they have open.

Securly Classroom gives teachers several other controls: teachers can limit the number of tabs a student has open, limit what specific sites a student can access, close all of a student’s tabs, “screen lock” a student’s computer so they cannot use it until unlocked by the teacher, “site lock” a student to limit them to a specific site, and push websites onto students’ computer screens.

Teachers also can share their screen or another student’s screen with individual students, send announcements to students that will flash up on their screens, chat directly with individual students, view a student’s internet history from the time the class started up until it ended, and screenshot and save an image of a student’s screen.

Teachers can only monitor students’ screens while they are in their classroom, said Maddox, and cannot see a student’s internet history or activity when the student is in another class or at home. Securly Classroom does not record a student’s activity during class, but does upload a list of the sites a student visited during class time to the teacher.

Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, all K-12 students in HCPS will have Securly Classroom downloaded on their school-issued devices – on iPads for younger elementary students and on computers for all students.

Securly Classroom will not be downloaded onto students’ cell phones or personal devices.

During the past few months, HCPS has piloted Securly Classroom for students at one high school, one middle school, and for students at Henrico Virtual Academy, and has received positive feedback, said Maddox.

“It really gives the teacher 100% visibility into what the student’s doing on that device in the classroom, and it gives teachers total control over the digital content in the classroom,” Maddox said. “I think it’s going to be a significant benefit to teachers.”

Henrico School Board members also said they were “excited” about the rollout of Securly Classroom this upcoming school year. (A promotional video from the company explaining the software appears below.)

New software also allows HCPS parents to monitor students’ online activity at home

HCPS also has given families access to a new Securly app called Securly Home that allows parents to monitor their student’s internet activity on their school-issued device throughout the day and limit screen time after school. 

With Securly Home, parents will receive a curated summary of their student’s online activity for the entire day as well as a list of all of the sites their student visited and all the internet searches their student made during the past 30 days.

Parents also will be able to control their student’s internet activity after school. Once school hours are over, parents can block students from accessing certain sites or allow students to access sites that the school blocks. Parents also can set timeframes after school for when their student’s internet is disabled.

While Securly Home does not allow parents to override HCPS’ digital settings during school hours, the app gives parents more control over their student’s internet usage at home.

“We’ve had examples where in years past, students were actually on their computer at 2 a.m. in the morning, and the parents were like, ‘what can we do to help my student not be on their computer?’” Maddox said. “And with Securly Home, we wanted to give parents the visibility but also the control in the home over how the students are using that device.”

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.