Technology in School

Upon working on my class assignments during my lunch break I came to the realization that we are not allowed to access blogs from the school computers. We also cannot access UTube and Facebook, both which have been an issue in the past.

There are many educational videos on UTube, why wouldn't teachers (at least) be able to access it? Facebook, I understand can be dangerous for students to have full access to during the school day. It can cause major distractions and disturbances, but it can also be used educationally. There was a teacher last year who wanted the students to create facebook profiles for historical figures and could not do the project.

Is there a balance somewhere? How do we control these sites that can contribute to the educational success of our students without allowing the sites to hinder them?