Protecting over two thousand students, in school and at home
Across five schools, Fannin County School System relies on ContentKeeper to filter a mixed estate of student and staff devices, both on campus and at home. The district has used the same platform since 2018, administered throughout by Scott Mathis alongside the many other systems he manages.
Fannin County School SystemBlue Ridge, Georgia, USA
Fannin County School System
K-12 public school district
Blue Ridge, Georgia, USA
STUDENTS
SCHOOLS
CHROMEBOOKS
PLATFORM ADMINISTRATOR
Visibility into encrypted traffic
The solution needed SSL decryption to reveal encrypted web traffic, alongside keyword alerts that flag concerning searches for review.
Protection beyond the school gate
Students take district devices home, so protection cannot stop at the school gate. Filtering needed to apply off-site just as it does on campus.
One administrator, many systems
Scott manages filtering alongside numerous other systems, making dependable technology and responsive support essential.
For a busy technology director who wears many hats, ContentKeeper is one critical system he doesn’t have to worry about. “It just works.”
Fannin County School System serves approximately 2,800 students across five schools in north Georgia. Every student in grades 3-12 is issued a Chromebook, while Chromebooks are also used in first and second grade, although not on a 1:1 basis. The resulting estate includes around 2,000 Chromebooks. Staff use Windows laptops and desktops alongside Chromebooks, the district retains several Windows student labs, and a BYOD network extends filtering to personal devices.
As a public school system, Fannin County must protect students online and meet its obligations under the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). So safe and reliable web filtering is essential. Student Chromebooks also travel home, which means protection cannot stop at the school gates. Scott Mathis, Director of Technology & Cybersecurity, has managed ContentKeeper since its implementation while also overseeing numerous other IT systems and responsibilities.
Fannin County moved to ContentKeeper in 2018. SSL decryption and keyword flagging were the clearest deciding factors, together with the ability to filter devices off-site. Scott also valued the flexibility to create different policies for students, teachers and administrators.
Today, ContentKeeper covers the district’s mixed estate across the five schools: roughly 2,000 Chromebooks, staff Windows laptops and desktops, Windows student labs plus the BYOD network. BYOD users receive a default policy, while other users are filtered according to their role. Scott reviews flagged search results daily and can add new terms to the keyword list as priorities change.
How the deployment has evolved.Originally, off-site traffic was backhauled to the district office before passing through ContentKeeper. Fannin County now uses a hybrid model: a single on-premises appliance handles on-site traffic, while off-site traffic is filtered through the cloud. The district has also consolidated separate filtering and reporting hardware into one device.
Responsive support helps make the platform manageable for a technology leader who wears many hats. Scott says the support team is quick to respond, which matters when ContentKeeper is only one of the many systems he oversees.
“It just works. It does what it’s supposed to do. And the support is really good; they’re very quick to get back to you. I wear many hats and manage many different pieces of software, so support is a big deal for me.”
Scott Mathis
Director of Technology & Cybersecurity
Fannin County School System
Eight years on one platform, and a recommendation to the district next door
Fannin County has used ContentKeeper continuously since 2018, with Scott administering it throughout. He remains confident in the platform’s ability to filter the district’s environment and support safer internet access. Covering the full estate on site and off, it provides different policies for different users and gives Scott a daily view of flagged searches. The strongest endorsement is the one he gave to another district: after Scott recommended ContentKeeper to a neighboring school system, it adopted the platform and continues to use it.
Eight years, one trusted platform
The district has relied on ContentKeeper continuously since 2018.
Entire estate, single policy framework
Over 2,000 Chromebooks, staff devices, student labs and BYOD are covered by policies for different users.
Protection beyond the school network
Students remain protected from harmful content even when their Chromebooks leave campus.