Throughout District 219, Facebook will officially be unblocked this Friday, Sept. 20 at 10 AM.

Guy Ballard, Chief Technology Officer, sees Facebook as a valuable tool for teachers and students to communicate and connect through their clubs. Ballard also finds that despite the potential risks of cyber bullying or serving as a distraction that “it doesn’t make sense to pick out just Facebook to block when it’s just as valuable as other social media websites that aren’t blocked.”

Andrew Swedberg, math teacher and guidance counselor, doesn’t see Facebook as a valuable tool at school. “It’s inevitable that students will get access to it. It’s like a snowball going downhill that isn’t going to be stopped. Students will access it anyways, so why keep it blocked?” he said.

For many students, this is true. Many have already found a way around the block on Facebook and aren’t as excited as one might expect them to be. Plenty of students already just disconnect from the school’s WiFi to use Facebook – the only difference now is that students don’t need to disconnect. Like senior Dylan Memmini, other students are too accustomed to not using Facebook at school to care. However, one benefit that could potentially arise from being able to use Facebook at school is the concept of immediacy. “I’d probably rant about things that happened at school right when they happen instead of waiting until after school,” Memmini said.

Yet many, like junior Haresh Kansara weren’t even aware Facebook would be unblocked in the first place. When asked what he would do first when Facebook is unblocked, Kansara said, “I don’t think I’ll even use it because I won’t have time during my day.”

Students like Kansara might help to quell the fears of skeptical staff members like Swedberg who worry that Facebook might detract from our jobs as students and teachers. To a certain degree, the return of Facebook might very well be ignored by Niles North students.