As Colorado schools embrace iPads and other take-home technology, some are taking distinctly different approaches to a key question: Who's responsible for online activity on school-issued devices once they leave the filtered safety of the campus?

When Manitou Springs School District 14 discovered kids could gain unfiltered Internet access on some browsers, it initially pulled the tablets from home use. When software solutions proved problematic, responsibility was shifted to parents.

They were asked to sign releases indicating they understood and accepted that students would have online access outside of school or the school could keep that child's device overnight.

At Elizabeth's Legacy Academy K-8 charter school, the principal declined to send iPads home with Internet access until they had sufficient filtering software.

The Colorado Association of School Boards says schools have found ways to provide access that are within state and federal laws. Kathleen Sullivan, associate executive director of legal programs for CASB, said there's a national trend toward relying on parents' written agreement to monitor students' use.

She added that a precise legal fix in a field that's changing so quickly is "nearly impossible" and that there's an alternative to trying a specific technological formula.

"It seems reasonable to accept as compliant those school districts that, today, next month or next year, provide cutting edge technology to students while taking adequate action to comply with the intent of the law — ensuring that responsible adults are acting to protect children in their online activities," she said in an e-mail.

Manitou Springs 14 Assistant Superintendent Tim Miller said the district has "near unanimous" support for its decision to ask parents to monitor their kids' outside activity online. Middle school principal Chris Burr said only a couple of parents have asked the school to keep custody of the iPads.

"It's not a raging issue, not epidemic at the school level," Burr said. "I'm not confident that it's an issue at home. Sometimes we're creating a problem where one doesn't exist."

But Joe Morin, who has a daughter in the district, said that while he's pleased with the iPads, he feels the administration has taken a "bad step" in content protection.

He likens the situation to the school sending home a textbook full of inappropriate content and asking parents to monitor which pages their student sees.

"It's an unacceptable and unreasonable expectation for parents to be Internet police for a school-provided device," Morin said.

Legacy principal Jason Cross gave iPads this year to every student. But when he discovered that the tablets would allow unfiltered access at home, he balked at letting them leave school.

Scott Walter, president of Legacy's board and also a parent, could see the dilemma.

"From a school standpoint, he's got to do what keeps the school from any liability — I get that," Walter said. "From a personal aspect, we monitor where our kids go online. It wouldn't have been an issue at our household. But there are others where it would have been."

It took months before the school found a software solution to adequately filter online activity away from the school's system.

"This is new ground," Cross said, "and time will tell whose responsibility it will be."