Use of Technology Policy

Board Policy – approved 5/9/02

 

On Thursday, May 9, 2002 the Board of Education for the Leyden High School District 212 approved the following Use of Technology policy. This policy is for all students, faculty, and staff of District 212. Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, all students will be required to have a contract signed by their parents/guardians and themselves before being granted access to district technologies. This contract will be sent home over the summer and should be returned at registration. You can also download the contract here (pdf file requiring Acrobat Reader). An identifying mark will be placed on those students' IDs that have been granted access.

Section 1. Purpose of Technology Use

Leyden High Schools District 212 provides students and staff with access to a wide variety of stand-alone and networked technologies. These technologies include access to the Internet.  The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks that provides access to electronic mail (e-mail), databases, software, discussion groups, and other information services.  The sole purpose of these technologies is to improve the education of the students and the educational environment of which they are a part.  These technologies provide tremendous opportunities for enhancing, extending, and rethinking the learning process, and further assist in preparing each student to be a productive citizen.  Technology also serves to help make the District's administrative system more efficient.  In order for the District's technologies to serve as an integral part of both its curriculum and its operations, the District must provide its students and staff with appropriate guidance for its use.

Section 2. The Opportunities and Risks of Technology Use

The Board believes that the value of information and interaction that technology offers outweighs the hazards of its misuse. Making network access available, however, carries with it the potential that some network users will encounter sources that some consider controversial or inappropriate. Because information on networks is transitory and so diverse, the District cannot completely predict or control what users may or may not locate. Technology provides a conduit to information; the users must be wary of the sources and content and be responsible in choosing information to be accessed.

No technology is guaranteed to be error-free or totally dependable. Among other matters, the district makes no warranties of any kind for the service it is providing.  The District is not liable or responsible for: 1) any information that may be lost, damaged, or unavailable due to technical, or other, difficulties; 2) the accuracy or suitability of any information that is retrieved through technology; 3) breaches of confidentiality; or 4) defamatory material.

Section 3. Privileges and Responsibilities

Users may use/access District technologies during the regular school day (7:35 a.m. - 3:25 p.m.) for educational and/or District job related purposes only.  Student and staff use of these technologies is a privilege and not a legal right.  Exercising this privilege requires that users accept the responsibility for all materials viewed, downloaded, produced, and/or stored.

Users must conduct themselves accordingly by exercising good judgment and complying with this policy, any accompanying administrative regulations and guidelines, and all other relevant Board policies.  Since use of technology is a privilege, the District may restrict or revoke use of its technology or impose other appropriate disciplinary action if the privilege is abused.

USERS WILL:

·       Use District's technologies during the regular school day (7:35 a.m. - 3:25 p.m.) for educational and/or District job related purposes only

·       Limit personal use of the Internet and e-mail to 0 Period (7:05-7:35 a.m.) and after school (after 3:25 p.m.) only; limited personal use must be in compliance with the guidelines enumerated within this policy and priority of access will always be given to users needing to work on school related activities.

·       Maintain legal and ethical use of all technologies

·       Protect the privacy of other users and the integrity of the system by avoiding misuse of passwords, others' files, equipment and programs

·       Adhere to rules of copyright and assume that all documents, software or created by other authors are copyrighted (unless it is labeled "freeware" or "public domain")

·       Adhere to the licensing agreements governing the use of all software, including shareware

·       Recognize that District provided e-mail is not guaranteed to be private.  System operators have authorized access to all e-mail; access may be granted to other District personnel or law enforcement officials at any time

·       Be responsible at all times for the proper use of access privileges and for avoiding impersonations, anonymity, or unauthorized sharing of security measures

·       Take responsibility for all activities conducted and all information obtained by the user or by way of the user's account or password

·       Maintain the integrity of technological resources from potentially damaging messages, physical abuse, or viruses

·       Abide by all policies and procedures governing the use of technology throughout the District

USERS WILL NOT:

·       Use District technologies during the regular school day (7:35 a.m. - 3:25 p.m.) for non-educational and/or non-District job purposes

·       Use District technologies to play any computer or Internet game that is not part of a teacher directed lesson plan.

·       Participate in any personal real-time chat session (this includes before and after school)

·       Leave unsupervised computers logged into the Leyden network and/or a GroupWise account

·       Bring any food or drinks into any computer lab area

·       Download and/or install unauthorized software. Unauthorized software is any software not approved by the technology department

·       Use offensive, obscene, abusive, profane, pornographic, lewd, vulgar, threatening, racially offensive, harassing, inflammatory or defamatory speech

·       Harass other users

·       Use or distribute the account or password information of another user

·       Misrepresent themselves or others or forge electronic mail messages

·       Create and/or promulgate unsolicited advertisements or other commercial material, political lobbying, chain letters, or pyramid schemes

·       Violate the right of others, including their privacy

·       Access, download and/or create harmful, indecent, sexually oriented, pornographic, threatening, offensive, and/or illegal material

·       Use the network for personal business or financial gain

·       Vandalize data, programs, and/or networks.  Vandalism is the malicious attempt to harm or destroy data of another user, the internet or any other network

·       Degrade or disrupt systems and/or equipment

·       Delete data belonging to another user

·       Damage technology hardware and/or software

·       Intentionally spread computer viruses or worms

·       Gain unauthorized access to resources or other entities

·       Engage in copyright infringement

·       Use technology for illegal activities

·       Reveal the personal address, phone number or other personal information of any user, District student or employee

·       Use the internet while access privileges are suspended or revoked

Section 4. Disciplinary Actions

Failure to comply with this policy and any administrative regulations and guidelines governing the use of technology will result in disciplinary action by staff, administration and/or the Board of Education.  Appropriate disciplinary action for a violation of this policy or its administrative regulations or guidelines may include such actions as:

Section 5. Confidentiality

Users have no right or expectation of privacy in their files or communications, or in any records of their use of District technology.  The District has the unrestricted right, without prior notice or consent, to log technology use, to monitor file server space utilization by users, to search, examine and/or copy users' files and materials as the District determines, in its sole discretion, to be necessary.  Additionally, the Director of Technology or his designee may, when necessary, take appropriate action to protect and ensure the operability, integrity, security, and reliability of the network facilities.  The District will cooperate fully with local, state or federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to any illegal activities conducted through the District's network.

 

Section 6. Filtering Software

To comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act, the District will install and operate filtering software to limit users' Internet access to harmful, indecent, offensive, or pornographic materials, notwithstanding that such software may in certain cases block access to other materials as well.  At the same time, the District cannot guaranty that filtering software will in all instances successfully block access to materials deemed harmful, indecent, offensive or pornographic, and the District makes no undertaking to do so.  The use of filtering software does not negate or otherwise affect the obligations of users to abide by the terms of this policy and to refrain from accessing such materials.

 

Section 7. Web Publication

Teachers, administrators, coaches, and activity sponsors have the opportunity to create and publish web pages on the Leyden High Schools District 212 web servers and in its domain.  All official web pages must be reviewed by the District web master or a department web liaison prior to publication on the District's web servers.  The District web master reserves the right to develop additional webpage guidelines or regulations as necessary.  Users should be aware that the District retains the right to limit or remove web pages and other content that are objectionable or unrelated to district business.  Use of, and access to, the District's servers is solely for the purpose of supporting and contributing to the District's educational and administrative activities.

Creators of web pages must be familiar with and practice the following:

A)   Content Standards

1.     Individual users of district web servers are responsible for the content of any web documents they load in any district storage areas.

2.     Network administrators/web masters may review folders, files, web pages, and communications to maintain system integrity and ensure that users are using the system responsibly.  Users shall have no expectation of privacy in such folders, files, web pages, or communications.

3.     Users must obtain prior affirmative written consent of a student's parents/guardians, or the student, if he or she is 18 years old to publish a student's picture and/or a student's produced work (see the Parent Permission Form for World Wide Web Publishing).

B)   Subject Matter

1.     All subject matter on web pages should relate to curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, or general information relating to the school district, or the schools within the district.  Professional pages (which might include academic qualifications, credentials, and related items) are allowed and strongly encouraged.  Personal web pages (those containing personal information not directly related to academics) are prohibited for all students and staff.

C)   Quality

1.     All web page work should be free of spelling and grammatical errors.  Documents may not contain objectionable material or provide links to objectionable material.  Final judgments concerning propriety of web page material, appearance, or content will remain with building or district administrators/web masters.

2. Time-specific material should be kept up to date.  All content appearing out of date (30 days or more past an event or timeline) should be removed from the web.

D)   Ownership and Retention

1.     All web content on the district's servers is property of the district.

2.     All posting of web content is to be done by district personnel.

E)    Student Safeguards (after adhering to 7.A.3)

1.     When publishing student work, students should be identified by first name or initials only.  No other personally identifiable information about the student shall be published.

2.     Student phone numbers, home addresses, and e-mail addresses shall never be published.

3.     Pictures of students shall not provide any information identifying any student.  (This includes the student's name, nickname, initials, etc.)

4.     In the rare event that a student's picture would include the student's full name, the student's parent or guardian must be contacted by a school administrator and must provide additional affirmative written consent to the Director of Technology prior to its publication on the District's Internet Web Site.

Section 8. E-Mail and Messaging Systems

The District will only support the GroupWise messaging system.  No other messaging systems (including AOL, MSN, Outlook, etc.) may be installed on any district computer.  Accessing e-mail during the regular school day (7:35 a.m. - 3:25 p.m.), including free, web-based accounts, may be used for educational or District job related purposes only.

Section 9. Additional Rules/Actions

The Superintendent may establish regulations and guidelines, and shall take appropriate action, to implement this Policy.