Student Internet and Electronic Mail Acceptable Use Policy

 

 

 

Improper uses include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to school district records, files, computer programs, student or staff records, and other information maintained by the school district; and using, altering, or damaging computers or computer data maintained by third parties, including members of other computer networks accessible through the school district’s network.

Users shall not damage district or outside computing systems or networks or interfere with another’s ability to use a computing system or network by releasing viruses, worms, email bombs, or any other programs that slow, stop, or damage applications, computing systems, or networks. Absolutely NO program executable may be used, shared, or stored on any district computer in the “cloud”, on the network or mapped drive by any staff members, except where authorized by in writing by the Technology Department. All network accessible drives will be scanned periodically for the presence of executable files and possession on an identifiable drive will be considered an offense and subject to restriction of access and district prescribed discipline.

 

All network infrastructure devices connected to the Durango 9-R network either wired or wirelessly shall be owned and managed by the Durango 9-R Technology Department. Personal devices such as switches, hubs, access points and wireless hotspot connections shall not be allowed.

 

Users shall not install any software on the district network or school workstations which has not been approved by the Technology Department. Any external storage or media devices must be scanned by staff member for unauthorized files before students may use them in district computers. All staff members are expected to maintain virus free external media devices so as to not cause harm when they are in use on any district maintained devices.

Users may NOT download inappropriate files onto district network drives, into home directories, or onto workstation hard drives unless the person first obtains written permission from the district Technology Department. Inappropriate Internet files include, but are not limited to, games, copyrighted material, or material protected by the district’s filtering or blocking software.

 

Staff and students shall not:

 

 

 

In compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the district uses content filtering and/or blocking software to restrict access to Internet sites containing material harmful to minors, such as sexually explicit or other inappropriate materials. The software works by comparing content addresses to industry-defined lists of objectionable content as determined by the district. However, no software is foolproof. A user who accidentally connects to an inappropriate site must immediately disconnect from the site. If a user sees another user accessing inappropriate sites, he or she should notify an administrator or the Technology Department.

 

Users shall not tamper with the filtering service. Users shall not use the school district’s network system to access material that is obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, sexually suggestive, harmful, or otherwise inappropriate. Any person engaging in such actions may face school discipline or criminal penalties.

 

 

The following restrictions against inappropriate speech and messages apply to all speech communicated and accessed through the district Internet system, including email, instant messages, web pages, and blogs. Users shall not send obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening, or disrespectful messages. Users shall not post information that could cause damage, danger, or disruption, or engage in personal attacks, including prejudicial or discriminatory attacks. Users shall not harass another person, or knowingly or recklessly post false or defamatory information about a person or organization.

 

 

In the interest of school safety, the district shall educate students and staff about appropriate online behavior, including cyber-bullying awareness and responses, and interacting on social media networking sites and chatrooms. The district does not tolerate bullying and harassment by computer or in any other form. Users shall not use any Internet or other communication device, whether district owned or personally owned, to intimidate, bully, harass, or embarrass students or other staff members. Users who engage in such activity on school grounds or who engage in such activity off campus and create material disruption of school operations shall be subject disciplinary action and/or referral to law enforcement authorities.

 

The severity and pattern, if any, of the bullying behavior shall be taken into consideration when disciplinary decisions are made. Any users engaging in such activities will be directly referred to the School Administrator, Human Resources, and potentially, law enforcement.

 

 

When sending electronic messages on the district network, through a district provided email account or to users outside the network, users shall not include information that personally identifies themselves or other users. Identifying information includes, but is not limited to, last names, addresses, telephone numbers, family information, or any other personal information that could be used inappropriately. Students shall identify themselves by first names only. Staff members shall take exceptional precautions when sending electronic communications pertaining to students.

 

 

Users who publish websites on the district network, district affiliates or publicly, must adhere to district policy regarding student safety:

 

 

 

Users shall have no expectation of privacy or confidentiality in the content of electronic communications or other computer files that they send or receive on or from the school computer network or store in user directories. Authorized technology administrators or the Director of Technology may, at any time, review the subject, content, and appropriateness of electronic communications or other computer files and may remove them, if warranted. Technology administrators or the Director of Technology will report any violation of state or federal law or of district policy or regulation to the district administration or law enforcement officials as appropriate.

 

 

The district shall review and allow participation in various online “social networking” applications or sites, in order to give users a variety of collaborative educational resources, while maintaining a level of safety, security, and control by staff members and administration. Within this context, as with any use of district software, hardware, or network access, there are no expectations of privacy or confidentiality in the content of electronic communications or other computer files that they send or receive on or from the school computer network or store in any directories. Users should also be aware that third party websites have their own privacy policies and should understand them and proceed accordingly.

 

In order to set foundational principles around the use of social networking applications and sites, we must understand and define the term “Social Networking” for our purposes.

 

Definition of social networking: A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on facilitating the building of social networks or social relations among people who, for example, share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life connections. A social network service consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as email and instant messaging. Online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks. Examples of such sites are: Facebook, Edmodo, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, and various blogging sites like Blogger and WordPress.

 

Acceptable social networking requirements: Must be approved the Director of Technology, must have an educational purpose and, where sites will be used by or with students, MUST provide staff and/or administrators full moderator rights to the extent that content can be controlled, reviewed and managed by an approved staff member(s) acting as moderator of the site/application. This control MUST allow the moderator to grant access or delete access of any or all user profiles and submitted content. The moderator should have control over the level and type of advertisement of links a student will be exposed to and the moderator must inform parents of the use of the social network application or site, including its educational purpose. A moderator must be cognizant of and adhere to all H.I.P.A.A. and F.E.R.P.A. requirements when using social networking, applications or sites.

 

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

 

The district recommends that all staff practice proper professional distancing as it relates to personal social networking sites and the implications of accepting profiles from active K-12 students, whether or not the students attend Durango School District 9-R.

 

Monitoring use of district approved social networking pages/sites: The moderator does act in the place of a parent or guardian and is responsible for enforcing any restrictions which a parent or guardian may place on a minor’s use of these resources. Comments, posts, and messages are welcome on any approved social networking sites or application. And while the district recognizes and respects differences in opinion, all such interactions will be monitored regularly and reviewed for content and relevance (before publishing when possible).

 

District staff reserves the right to remove any posts deemed inappropriate. All postings which contain any of the following will be removed and the poster barred from posting any subsequent messages to district approved social networking pages/sites:

 

 

In addition, the district reserves the right to edit or modify any postings or comments for space or content, while retaining the intent of the original post. The district shall also be granted the right to reproduce comments, posts, and messages in other public venues; e.g., a response to a book review may be quoted in a newspaper or on the district website. Identifying information, other than first name, will be removed, unless prior approval is granted by the poster.

 

The district assumes no liability regarding any event or interaction that takes place by a participant in any district-sponsored social networking service and does not endorse or review content outside the “pages” created by district users.

 

Participation in district social networking services implies agreement to follow all district policies, including its Social Networking Policy and its Electronic Communications Code of Ethics, and also, the terms of service of each third-party service.

 

The role and utility of social networking sites will be evaluated periodically by district staff and may be terminated at any time without notice to subscribers. The district does not endorse any information, opinions, services or advertisements available for viewing on social networking sites.

 

 

By submitting a comment to any of the district’s approved social networking pages, you agree to abide by the following rules, which are designed to ensure that people feel comfortable in any online discussions and are keen to participate and that any such discussions stay relevant and on topic.

 

 

We encourage open, lively debate but the decision to publish comments received by the district is at the discretion of the moderator or administration. Comments that violate any of the above rules will not be published or will be removed and the user’s profile deleted. The commenter(s) could be subjected to additional district discipline.

 

• Users are fully responsible for the security of their personal technology devices, files, and passwords.
• Users shall promptly notify the school district of security or virus-related problems.
• Users shall not have access to internal network resources on their personal devices.
• Users are expressly forbidden to attempt to access the internal network systems through installation of any network client or personal software on their personal devices.
• By using their personal devices to access the district network, users acknowledge that the district is not responsible for correcting any problems that arise on their computing devices.