Classroom - Why is a pushed site still blocked by Filter?

A site a teacher pushes from Classroom will still be blocked by Filter if it is blocked in any of four places: the Filter Global Block List, the Classroom Organization Block List, the teacher's Access Plan, or the YouTube category settings in the student's Filter policy. The Classroom and Filter integration does not override those settings.

With the integration turned on (Classroom > Settings > System > Integrations > Automatically unblock pushed URLs in Securly Filter), a URL pushed through Push URL, Site Lock, or an Allow-only Access Plan is temporarily allowed in Filter for the students in that class until the session ends. When it fails, the student sees a Filter block page, not a Classroom one, which makes it easy to troubleshoot the wrong product. This article lists every setting that blocks a pushed site and how to find the one causing the problem.

What overrides a teacher's temporary allow

If a site appears in any of these locations, pushing it from Classroom will not unblock it.

Partial URLs count too. A district that added youtube.com/shorts to the Classroom Organization Block List to block Shorts all day found that teachers could no longer get pushed YouTube links to open.

How to tell which setting is blocking the site

Start with the block page the student sees. It narrows the search to one or two places.

• "Blocked by category" after the video briefly loads: YouTube category blocking in the student's Filter policy. Filter checks the YouTube category after the page starts loading, which is why the video appears for a moment before it is blocked.

• "Site is in policy block list": the Filter Global Block List, the Classroom Organization Block List, or the teacher's Access Plan. Classroom blocks surface as a Filter block page because the integration skips the temporary allow entirely, so check all three.

If the block page does not match either case, confirm the integration is turned on and that the teacher pushed the site during an active class session.

How to fix it

Remove or narrow the entry that is blocking the site, then have the teacher push it again during an active session.

Filter Global Block List

1. Log in to Securly Filter and go to Policy Editor > Global Settings > Allow/Block.

2. Select Block to view the blocked sites.

3. Remove the site if teachers should be able to push it. Sites on this list are blocked for every policy, and no Classroom push can override them.

Classroom Organization Block List

1. Log in to Securly Classroom as an admin and open Settings.

2. Find the Organization Block List and remove the site, or the partial URL that matches it.

3. To keep a site blocked most of the day but available for lessons, block it in Filter instead. Filter blocks can be overridden by a teacher's push. Organization Block List entries cannot.

Teacher's Access Plan

1. In Classroom, open the Access Plans available to the teacher.

2. Remove the site from any plan's blocked sites, or have the teacher end that plan before pushing the site.

YouTube category blocking

1. In Filter, open Policy Editor and select the policy assigned to the students.

2. Review the YouTube category settings and allow the category the video falls under.

3. If the category needs to stay blocked, the teacher will not be able to push videos from it. Category checks are not overridden by the temporary allow.