taigasol1 wrote:

I HIGHLY doubt that any district would bother contacting Scratch to fix their issues, when there's a relatively easy way they could implement Scratch into the curriculum themselves, while avoiding all the issues with the platform.

That's what I thought unfortunately but schools can block specific pages i think so idk if that could be used here
Maybe they could allow like the download page and editor so that people can use the offline editor and make projects (though personally i dont think they should have the school blockers, but we could just agree to disagree about that)

medians wrote:

taigasol1 wrote:

I HIGHLY doubt that any district would bother contacting Scratch to fix their issues, when there's a relatively easy way they could implement Scratch into the curriculum themselves, while avoiding all the issues with the platform.

That's what I thought unfortunately but schools can block specific pages i think so idk if that could be used here
Maybe they could allow like the download page (though personally i dont think they should have the school blockers, but we could just agree to disagree)

Yeah, the download page should probably be the only thing students are allowed to access for any district. The website itself is not fit for educational purposes, only the editor is.

taigasol1 wrote:

medians wrote:

taigasol1 wrote:

I HIGHLY doubt that any district would bother contacting Scratch to fix their issues, when there's a relatively easy way they could implement Scratch into the curriculum themselves, while avoiding all the issues with the platform.

That's what I thought unfortunately but schools can block specific pages i think so idk if that could be used here
Maybe they could allow like the download page (though personally i dont think they should have the school blockers, but we could just agree to disagree)

Yeah, the download page should probably be the only thing students are allowed to access for any district. The website itself is not fit for educational purposes, only the editor is.

They could also allow like these pages if they arent unblocking the rest of the website:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor
the homepage (maybe block the endpoints though)
the ideas page and some of the stuff linked there
the download page
https://mitscratch.freshdesk.com/en/support/home
https://www.scratchfoundation.org (i don't think there's rlly anything social here)
Though wat do u think about the forums

medians wrote:

taigasol1 wrote:

medians wrote:

taigasol1 wrote:

I HIGHLY doubt that any district would bother contacting Scratch to fix their issues, when there's a relatively easy way they could implement Scratch into the curriculum themselves, while avoiding all the issues with the platform.

That's what I thought unfortunately but schools can block specific pages i think so idk if that could be used here
Maybe they could allow like the download page (though personally i dont think they should have the school blockers, but we could just agree to disagree)

Yeah, the download page should probably be the only thing students are allowed to access for any district. The website itself is not fit for educational purposes, only the editor is.

They could also allow like these pages:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor
the homepage (maybe block the endpoints though)
the ideas page
https://mitscratch.freshdesk.com/en/support/home
https://www.scratchfoundation.org (i don't think there's rlly anything social here)
Though wat do u think about the forums

You can get the editor from the offline page, so block that (unless if you're using a chromebook or something). The help center and foundation websites are probably ok. However, forums should 100% be blocked.

taigasol1 wrote:

medians wrote:

taigasol1 wrote:

medians wrote:

taigasol1 wrote:

I HIGHLY doubt that any district would bother contacting Scratch to fix their issues, when there's a relatively easy way they could implement Scratch into the curriculum themselves, while avoiding all the issues with the platform.

That's what I thought unfortunately but schools can block specific pages i think so idk if that could be used here
Maybe they could allow like the download page (though personally i dont think they should have the school blockers, but we could just agree to disagree)

Yeah, the download page should probably be the only thing students are allowed to access for any district. The website itself is not fit for educational purposes, only the editor is.

They could also allow like these pages:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor
the homepage (maybe block the endpoints though)
the ideas page
https://mitscratch.freshdesk.com/en/support/home
https://www.scratchfoundation.org (i don't think there's rlly anything social here)
Though wat do u think about the forums

You can get the editor from the offline page, so block that. The help center and foundation websites are probably ok. However, forums should 100% be blocked.

Yeah I was thinking help with scripts and project ideas and the fact that there aren't that many people here but IDK if they'd be able to really detect if a topic is from help with scripts or project ideas

medians wrote:

Yeah I was thinking help with scripts and the fact that there aren't that many people here but IDK if they'd be able to really detect if a topic is from help with scripts

They probably wouldn't, and you would need to make an account to talk on forums anyway.

taigasol1 wrote:

medians wrote:

Yeah I was thinking help with scripts and the fact that there aren't that many people here but IDK if they'd be able to really detect if a topic is from help with scripts

They probably wouldn't, and you would need to make an account to talk on forums anyway.

Yeah I was thinking about existing posts though
Oh and maybe the wiki could be unblocked too (honestly they should bring back tips window in the first place:
https://scratch.mit.edu/help/studio/tips/home/

I think I just need to accept that my previous teacher already won for the school (she's requesting to let the school download the offline editor), but I lost for my own gain.

My teacher replied saying:

“The school is not allowed by law to allow students to use websites that share data with the outside world. This is why youtube and google maps were blocked, but google classroom is allowed. Google shares information on youtube with anyone who is willing to pay their price.”

I think something about this can be fair for me, since I use my own scratch account not connected to my school or google account (I believe), but I'll wait until Scratch is blocked on my chromebook and figure out what to do next.

Magudragon wrote:

I think I just need to accept that my previous teacher already won for the school (she's requesting to let the school download the offline editor), but I lost for my own gain.

My teacher replied saying:

“The school is not allowed by law to allow students to use websites that share data with the outside world. This is why youtube and google maps were blocked, but google classroom is allowed. Google shares information on youtube with anyone who is willing to pay their price.”

I think something about this can be fair for me, since I use my own scratch account not connected to my school or google account (I believe), but I'll wait until Scratch is blocked on my chromebook and figure out what to do next.

Wat yt was blocked WHAT ITS USED IN EDUCATION

ActionKid2089 wrote:

Magudragon wrote:

I think I just need to accept that my previous teacher already won for the school (she's requesting to let the school download the offline editor), but I lost for my own gain.

My teacher replied saying:

“The school is not allowed by law to allow students to use websites that share data with the outside world. This is why youtube and google maps were blocked, but google classroom is allowed. Google shares information on youtube with anyone who is willing to pay their price.”

I think something about this can be fair for me, since I use my own scratch account not connected to my school or google account (I believe), but I'll wait until Scratch is blocked on my chromebook and figure out what to do next.

Wat yt was blocked WHAT ITS USED IN EDUCATION

It's also used for things not school appropriate.

CuteRobot22 wrote:

ActionKid2089 wrote:

Magudragon wrote:

I think I just need to accept that my previous teacher already won for the school (she's requesting to let the school download the offline editor), but I lost for my own gain.

My teacher replied saying:

“The school is not allowed by law to allow students to use websites that share data with the outside world. This is why youtube and google maps were blocked, but google classroom is allowed. Google shares information on youtube with anyone who is willing to pay their price.”

I think something about this can be fair for me, since I use my own scratch account not connected to my school or google account (I believe), but I'll wait until Scratch is blocked on my chromebook and figure out what to do next.

Wat yt was blocked WHAT ITS USED IN EDUCATION

It's also used for things not school appropriate.

and YouTube shorts is 100% blocked

Well, if you fear scratch is blocked, download the sb3 files of your projects (either all, or just the few you really care about), make a new account under your personal email, then re-upload the games! Yes, you'll lose interactions on them, but I'm sure if you quickly make a project saying “HEY GO TO MY NEW ACCOUNT” People would do it :3

CuteRobot22 wrote:

ActionKid2089 wrote:

Magudragon wrote:

I think I just need to accept that my previous teacher already won for the school (she's requesting to let the school download the offline editor), but I lost for my own gain.

My teacher replied saying:

“The school is not allowed by law to allow students to use websites that share data with the outside world. This is why youtube and google maps were blocked, but google classroom is allowed. Google shares information on youtube with anyone who is willing to pay their price.”

I think something about this can be fair for me, since I use my own scratch account not connected to my school or google account (I believe), but I'll wait until Scratch is blocked on my chromebook and figure out what to do next.

Wat yt was blocked WHAT ITS USED IN EDUCATION

It's also used for things not school appropriate.

Tho even if u agree with keeping school blockers idk if that necessarily means the whole website should be blocked

MuscleManDave wrote:

Well, if you fear scratch is blocked, download the sb3 files of your projects (either all, or just the few you really care about), make a new account under your personal email, then re-upload the games! Yes, you'll lose interactions on them, but I'm sure if you quickly make a project saying “HEY GO TO MY NEW ACCOUNT” People would do it :3

I mean I'm assuming he won't be able to log in

MuscleManDave wrote:

Well, if you fear scratch is blocked, download the sb3 files of your projects (either all, or just the few you really care about), make a new account under your personal email, then re-upload the games! Yes, you'll lose interactions on them, but I'm sure if you quickly make a project saying “HEY GO TO MY NEW ACCOUNT” People would do it :3

The thing is that I already use an account with a personal email. the issue is that my school is blocking scratch on all their devices, and I use my personal Scratch account through a school chromebook.

ActionKid2089 wrote:

Wat yt was blocked WHAT ITS USED IN EDUCATION

YT was also blocked in my city's DOE accounts
it was a recent ban (late 2026)

gotta convince the DOE to not block Scratch either

anyways to main OP
using just this forum post is unlikely gonna convince the school to unblock Scratch
there should be a different solution

So, once upon a time, there was a fresh group of folks who created something called codetolearn.org, which eventually was renamed to Scratch Foundaiton. When Code to Learn was established, it focused only on afterschool programs, workshops, community centers, that sort of thing and purposely did not attempt to create something “for schools”. Since that time, the growth of Scratch usage in schools was entirely up to the schools themselves, and since this was pretty early on in the history of schools having computers on the internet (2000-2011), it was mostly up to individual schools and small districts to decide who and what was allowed.

In 2013, Code to Learn (Scratch Foundation), decided to add tools to the then new to the world version 2.0 of the website. That project ran for about 5 years, with multiple restarts in the design, trying to align the tools with the ethos of the Scratch Team. When it was released, in 2018 or so, there was a lot of pressure from schools to sign agreements of various sorts for a service they didn't pay for, and, originally wasn't intended to be used in school classrooms. The team did investigate what we could do in terms of signing agreements with schools, but we weren't a large enough org (and still aren't) to handle signing agreements with hundreds of school districts and sometimes State level education departments, many of which had conflicting needs.

Today, we are still trying to sort this out. Peers are one of the 4 P's for Scratch, Passion, Projects, Peers, and Play. Schools don't want peers involved when it comes to Scratch. Not even in the same classroom. This means they are asking us to provide them tooling (for free) to handle classroom organization, while removing all aspects of peer interactions. This is fundamentally at odds with our team's ethos and we are still exploring ways that we could influence schools and teaching to include peer work as a fundamental aspect of learning, which, will include classroom tooling that does not have the social interaction aspect.

A school blocking Scratch because of open student-info also fundamentally doesn't make sense. We close and censor student and educator accounts regularly because they were created ignoring our rules for not using real names or real geographic location information, we built the tools and our policies specifically to avoid that sort of information being in our systems at all. Our organization is in a really weird position due to the uptake of it by the world, we continue to be a non-profit without any regular revenue stream, we didn't sign agreements with schools as a matter of our own policy because we don't have anywhere near a large enough org to manage the hundreds, and probably thousands of individual agreements we need to sign.

Magudragon wrote:

My old technology teacher has emailed me saying
"The decision to block scratch was made for a couple of reasons and one of them is that Scratch will not promise to share student information. "

Are these term going to change in NGP? The scratch community has found out scratch is moving beyond student accounts, replacing them with normal accounts connected to Google classroom (which makes me assume student information will be forced to be shared with educators).

(I understood things wrong, she meant Scratch cannot guarantee student info will be kept away from outside platforms, but is this logic still going to change in NGP)?

I really need a reply from someone related to ST, this could change everything about the main website getting blocked at my school.

Yea same with me but MOST of it is not blocked and some of it. Is
(If your school does it/Chromebook forms. Do that if not that ask your teacher are do what I do which is do what I can at school and do the rest at home or whatever!)

Magudragon wrote:

"The school is not allowed by law to allow students to use websites that share data with the outside world. This is why youtube and google maps were blocked, but google classroom is allowed. Google shares information on youtube with anyone who is willing to pay their price."

wh- HUH?
Ok I need to comment on this.
The censorship is getting out of hand. I understand blocking social media sites intended for adults, but blocking literally every form of sharing data over the internet is WAY too far. Especially Scratch of all websites, which has, you know, actual moderation
“Well what if my kid shares their personal information online?” How is that the fault of Scratch? Teach kids internet safety. Restricting basic communication on the internet will only leave people unprepared to use it in the future. Schools can't expect everyone to have a personal computer at home to learn this stuff.
“But students keep using it to play games!” Do they think blocking one website out of thousands is going to stop that? If someone wants to goof off in the middle of class instead of doing their work, blocking Scratch won't suddenly make them go “Aw man! I guess I have to be a hard-working student now!” All it does is encourage people to look through the depths of the internet and download ten thousand viruses onto their school-issued computers.

I opeh heyt nblocku ti oons… ):

knowitall1237 wrote:

Magudragon wrote:

"The school is not allowed by law to allow students to use websites that share data with the outside world. This is why youtube and google maps were blocked, but google classroom is allowed. Google shares information on youtube with anyone who is willing to pay their price."

wh- HUH?
Ok I need to comment on this.
The censorship is getting out of hand. I understand blocking social media sites intended for adults, but blocking literally every form of sharing data over the internet is WAY too far. Especially Scratch of all websites, which has, you know, actual moderation
“Well what if my kid shares their personal information online?” How is that the fault of Scratch? Teach kids internet safety. Restricting basic communication on the internet will only leave people unprepared to use it in the future. Schools can't expect everyone to have a personal computer at home to learn this stuff.
“But students keep using it to play games!” Do they think blocking one website out of thousands is going to stop that? If someone wants to goof off in the middle of class instead of doing their work, blocking Scratch won't suddenly make them go “Aw man! I guess I have to be a hard-working student now!” All it does is encourage people to look through the depths of the internet and download ten thousand viruses onto their school-issued computers.

Okay, the 2nd part could intimidate the IT administrator to block all game websites as a challenge, but I'm just going to add it should be the teacher's responsibility to see if their students are on task.