Appendix B – Acceptable Use Policy
CIPA
Board Policy
Wimberley Independent School District
Electronic Communication and Data Management
Guidelines,
2006-2007
Children’s Internet Protection Act
The Wimberley Independent School District currently utilizes ESCONETT through the Region XIII Education Service Center for Internet access. This Internet access has filters in place to provide Internet safety for minors that protects against access through such computers to visual depictions that are:
Obscene;
Pornographic; or
May be harmful to minors;
and
is enforcing the operation of such technology protection measure during any use of such computers by minors; and has in place a policy of internet safety that includes the operation of a technology protection measure with respect to any of its computers with internet access that protects against access through such computers to visual depictions that are obscene; or child pornography, and its enforcing the operation of such technology protection measure during any use of such computers.
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Wimberley ISD |
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The Superintendent or designee shall implement, monitor,
and evaluate electronic media resources for instructional and administrative
purposes. |
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AVAILABILITY OF ACCESS |
Access to the District's electronic communications system,
including the Internet, shall be made available to students, Board members,
and employees primarily for instructional and administrative purposes and in
accordance with administrative regulations. |
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Limited personal use of the system shall be permitted if the use:
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Access to the District's electronic communications system,
including the Internet, shall be made available to members of the public
also, in accordance with administrative regulations and with provisions of
this policy regarding personal use of the system. |
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Members of the public who are granted access shall be
required to comply with District rules, regulations, and policies governing appropriate
use of the system. |
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ACCEPTABLE USE |
The Superintendent or designee shall develop and implement administrative regulations, guidelines, and user agreements, consistent with the purposes and mission of the District and with law and policy governing copyright. [See EFE] Access to the District's electronic communications system
is a privilege, not a right. All users shall be required to acknowledge
receipt and understanding of administrative regulations governing use of the
system and shall agree in writing to allow monitoring of their use and
compliance with such regulations
and guidelines. Noncompliance may result in suspension of access or
termination of privileges and other disciplinary action consistent with
District policies. [See DH, FN series, FO series, and the Student Code of
Conduct] Violations of law may result in criminal prosecution as
well as disciplinary action by the District. |
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MONITORED USE |
Electronic mail transmissions and other use of the
electronic communications system by students and employees are not private
and may be monitored at any time by designated District staff to ensure
appropriate use. |
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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS |
Students shall retain all rights to work they create using
the District's electronic communications system. |
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As agents of the District, employees shall have limited
rights to work they create using the District's electronic communications
system. The District shall retain the right to use any product created for
its use by an employee even when the author is no longer an employee of the
District. |
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DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY |
The District shall not be liable for users' inappropriate
use of electronic communication resources, violations of copyright
restrictions or other laws, users' mistakes or negligence, or costs incurred
by users. The District shall not be responsible for ensuring the accuracy,
age appropriateness, or usability of any information found on the Internet. |
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DATE ISSUED: 02/28/2000 |
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This online
presentation of your district's policy is an electronic representation of
TASB's record of the district's currently adopted policy manual. It does not
reflect updating activities in progress. The official, authoritative manual
is available for inspection in the office of the Superintendent. [See BF
(LOCAL) for further information.] |
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Wimberley Independent School District
Guidelines for the use of
Electronic Communication and Data Management
The Superintendent or designee will oversee the District’s
electronic communications system.
The District will provide training in proper use of the system and will provide all users with copies of acceptable use guidelines. All training in the use of the District’s system will emphasize the ethical use of this resource.
Consent
Requirements
Copyrighted software or data may not be placed on any system connected to the District’s system without permission from the holder of the copyright. Only the owner(s) or individuals(s) the owner specifically authorizes may upload copyrighted material to the system.
No original work created by any district
student or employee will be posted on a web page under the District’s control
unless the District has received written consent from the student (and the
student’s parent) or employee who created the work.
No personally identifiable information about a District student will be posted on a web page under the District’s control unless the District has received written consent from the student’s parent. An exception may be made for “directory information” as allowed by the Family Education Records Privacy Act and District Policy.
System Access
Access to the District’s electronic communications system will be governed as follows:
As appropriate and with the
approval of the immediate supervisor, District employees will be trained and be
granted access to the District’s system.
Students in grades K
through twelve will receive instruction on the use of the internet after
student and parent sign The Student Agreement for Acceptable Use of the
Electronic Communication System form to be given at the campus level. Students will then be granted access to the
District’s system.
Any system user identified
as a security risk or as having violated District and/or campus computer use
guidelines may be denied access to the District’s
system.
INDIVIDUAL USER
RESPONSIBILITIES FOR ON-LINE CONDUCT
The following standards will apply to all users of the District’s electronic information / communications systems:
1. The individual in whose name a system account is issued will be responsible at all times for it’s proper use.
2. The system may not be used for illegal purposes, in support of illegal activities, or for any other activity prohibited by District policy or guidelines.
3. Students may not distribute personal information about themselves or others by means of the electronic communication system.
4. System users must purge electronic mail periodically to ensure proper use of system.
5. System users may not redistribute copyrighted programs or data except with the written permission of the copyright holder or designee. Such permission must be specified in the document or must be obtained directly from the copyright holder or designee in accordance with applicable copyright laws, District policy, and administrative regulations.
6. System users may upload public domain programs (such as WinZip, Acrobat Reader, acdc, and Real Player) to the system. System users may also download public domain programs for their own use or may noncommercial redistribute a public domain program, free ware or shareware.
a. Public Domain – programs or files that carry no copyright. There are no limits on their redistribution or modification
b. Freeware – programs or files that are free to you, but not to sell or modify. The author retains the copyright.
c. Shareware – programs or files that allow you to road test the program for a short evaluation period and then either pay the author a small fee or erase the program from your computer. The author retains all copyrights.
7. System users may not send or post messages that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another’s reputation, or that are illegal.
8. System users may not purposefully access materials that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another’s reputation, or that are illegal.
9. System users should be mindful that use of school-related electronic mail addresses might cause some recipients or other readers of that mail to assume they represent the district or school, whether or not that was the user’s intention.
10. System users may not waste District resources (paper in printer, disk space, bandwidth…) related to the electronic communications system.
11. System users may not gain unauthorized access to resources or information.
Vandalism Prohibited
Any malicious attempt to harm or destroy District equipment or data or data of another user of the District’s system, or any of the agencies or other networks that are connected to the internet is prohibited. Deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt system performance are violations of District policy and administrative regulations and may constitute criminal activity under applicable state and federal laws. Such prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to, the uploading or creating of computer viruses. Vandalism as defined above will result in the cancellation of system use privileges and will require restitution for costs associated with system restoration, as well as other appropriate consequences.
Forgery
Prohibited
Forgery or attempted forgery of electronic mail messages is prohibited. Attempts to read, delete, copy, or modify the electronic mail of other system users, deliberate interference with the ability of other system users to send/receive electronic mail, or the use of another person’s user ID and/or password is prohibited.
Information Content / Third-Party Supplied Information
System users and parents of students with access to the District’s system should be aware that use of the system may not provide access to other electronic communications systems in the global electronic network that may contain inaccurate and/or objectionable material.
A system user who gains access to such material must discontinue the access as quickly as possible and to report the incident to the supervising teacher or supervisor or user will be subject to disciplinary action.
A student knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school’s electronic environment will be subject to suspension of access and/or revocation of privileges on the District’s system and will be subject to disciplinary action.
An employee knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school’s electronic environment will be subject to disciplinary action.
Participation in Chat Rooms and Newsgroups
Students are prohibited from participating in any chat room or newsgroup accessed on the Internet or network.
In accordance with District policies, chat rooms and newsgroup participation is permissible for employees for educational purposes. Employees are encouraged to access these resources before or after school to prevent strain on network resources.
Development and Publishing of Web Pages
The Wimberley Independent School District hereby reserves the right to implement the following guidelines for the development and publishing of web pages:
Careful thought should be given to the purpose of a school’s website. Websites should be primarily academic in nature. They can also serve to support our educational programs by informing our community about events and activities and reflect the unique personality of each school.
1. These criteria must be considered when posting material to a web page:
The appropriateness of the
pages in relation to the objectives of the class
The representation as it
appears for the Wimberley Independent School District
The demand on the
District’s web administrator to upload web pages
2. Roles of the developers of the web pages:
Web Advisor: Designated faculty or staff person
responsible for material and content published on the school website.
Web Master: Student(s) designated by the web advisor to
act as managing editor for school website.
Equivalent to editor of school newspaper. Web master will be responsible to gather all Copyright Permission
Letters from the Web team and turn them in to the Web Site Administrator before
publishing.
Web Proofreader: Student who has been designated to proofread
all of the web pages including the links used in the web pages.
Web Site
Administrator: Teacher or Campus Technology
Coordinator is responsible for all campus web pages placed on the internet.
Web Team: Team of students under the direction of web
advisor who are responsible for establishing and maintaining school web
site. The typical team will include student
web master, writers, designers, web proofreaders, graphic artists and
technicians.
3. A faculty member shall serve as web advisor to the web team involved in the writing, producing and/or Internet distribution of the website. In addition, the web advisor will identify a web proofreader who will proofread all the pages before they are submitted by the student webmaster to the site webmaster.
4. All web pages must be in compliance with federal copyright laws. Permission of the originator is needed to publish information, graphs or photographs on your site. Making a link to another site does not require permission, although as a courtesy, you should inform the linked site and suggest reciprocal link if appropriate.
5. Student and parent, prior to the publishing of the pages, must sign a permission form granting permission for work to be published. These forms must be turned in to the web site administrator.
6. Web pages designed by employees to communicate school business to parents (such as homework assignments, fundraisers, etc.) should be posted to the Wimberley ISD server rather than on a personal web page.
7. Web pages created by employees belong to the district even after their job terminates.
8. The district or site web administrator may shut down web pages that use excessive system resources or network bandwidth.
9. Web team will be responsible for maintenance of the site. Maintenance includes, but is not limited to, timely updating of information, periodic checks of external links, posting approved pages to the District server and design site to accommodate new pages.
10. The web advisor is ultimately responsible for making sure site conforms to all requirements of district guidelines. Web advisor will be responsible for all content and subject matter posted on the school’s/district’s website.
11. All pages for publishing should be reviewed by web advisor to insure correct content and/or quality of published material. This includes all links from the page directing viewers to an external site.
Content concerns include the following:
Appropriate
information for a school site
Appropriate
links to outside sources
Personal pages
are not permitted
Subject matter concerns:
Content
appropriate material
Student work
posted with permission by student and parent
Student work does not
reveal family or personal details that may be construed as invasion of privacy
for student or family members
Accuracy concern:
Correct
spelling
Correct grammar
and punctuation
Correct dates,
times and locations
12. Personal student identification on school web pages should follow these guidelines:
When appropriate, first
initials and last names or first names along with initial of last name should
be used. Complete first and last name
can be listed with parent permission.
Student pictures should be
avoided unless written parental permission is received. Group pictures are best, with reference to
teacher’s class rather than individual names.
Network Etiquette
System users are expected to observe the following network etiquette:
1. Be polite; messages typed in capital letters are the computer equivalent of shouting and are considered rude.
2. Use appropriate language; swearing, vulgarity, ethnic or racial slurs, and other inflammatory language are prohibited.
3. Pretending to be someone else when sending/receiving messages is considered inappropriate.
4. Transmitting obscene messages or pictures is prohibited. Using the network in such a way that would disrupt the use of the network by other users is prohibited.
Termination / Revocation of System User Account
Termination of an employee’s or a student’s access for violation of District policies or regulations will be effective on the date the principal or District coordinator receives notice of student withdrawal or of revocation of system privileges, or on a future date if so specified in the notice.
Disclaimer
The District’s system is provided on an “as is, is available” basis. The District does not make any warranties, whether expressed or implied, including, without limitation, those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to any services provided by the system and any information or software contained therein. The District does not warrant that the functions or services performed by, or that the information or software contained on the system will meet the system user’s requirements, or that the system will be uninterrupted or error free, or that defects will be corrected.
Opinions, advice, services, and all other information expressed by system users, information providers, service providers, or other third-party individuals in the system are those of the providers and not the District.
The District will cooperate fully with local, state, or federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to misuse or the District’s electronic communications system.