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 individual(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 and the work complies with the district's Media Publishing and Posting Policies. 

No personally identifiable information about a District student will be posted on a web page under the District’s control or provided by the district for posting elsewhere 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.

Access to the District’s electronic communications system will be governed as follows:

1. Upon completion of practicum requirements, as appropriate, and with the written approval of the immediate supervisor, District employees will be granted access to the District’s system.

2. Students in grades K-12 will be granted access to the District’s system by their teachers, as appropriate. Students in grades 5 - 12 will be assigned individual accounts upon completion of practicum requirements for Internet Driver’s License.

3. A sponsoring teacher may apply for a class account and in doing so will be ultimately responsible for use of the account.

4. The District will require that all passwords be changed every six weeks.

5. Any system user identified as a security risk or as having violated Districts and/or campus computer use guidelines may be denied access to the District’s system.

6. URL filtering and blocking is maintained by the district for protection of minors denying access to inappropriate matter on the Internet, World Wide Web, E-mail, chat rooms and other forms of direct electronic communications. Use of URL proxy unblocker sites is strictly forbidden. In cases where this filtering fails, the user is required to report the site to the Network Administrator immediately so that appropriate internal blocking may be implemented.

7.  The district has in place a firewall for protection from unauthorized access or "hacking", and other unlawful activities online.  In cases where this protection fails, all users who are aware of this failure are required to report the incident to the Network Administrator immediately.

The Network Administrator for the District’s electronic communications system (or campus designee) will:

1. Be responsible for disseminating and enforcing applicable District policies and acceptable use guidelines for the District’s system on each respective campus.

2. Ensure that all users of the District’s system complete and sign an agreement to abide by District policies and administrative regulations regarding such use. All such agreements will be maintained on file in the Network Administrator's office.

3. Ensure that employees supervising students who use the District’s system provide training emphasizing the appropriate use of this resource.

4. Ensure that all software loaded on computers in the District is consistent with District standards and is properly licensed.

5. Be authorized to monitor or examine all system activities, including electronic mail transmissions, as deemed appropriate to ensure proper use of the system.

6. Be authorized to establish a retention schedule for messages on any electronic bulletin board, e-mail server, web server, productivity server, and to remove messages posted locally that are deemed to be inappropriate.

7. Is authorized to publish, post, or distribute district information and user product according to the Media Posting and Publishing Policies.

7. Set limits for data storage within the District’s system, as needed.

The following standards will apply to all users of the District’s  electronic information/communication systems:

1. The individual in whose name a system account is issued will  be responsible at all times for its 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 policies or guidelines.

3. System users may not use another person’s system account without written permission from the campus administrator or District coordinator, as appropriate.

4. Students, faculty, staff, or community network users may not distribute personal information about themselves or others by means of the electronic communication system unless a written release form is obtained.

5. System users must purge electronic mail in accordance with established retention guidelines.

6. 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.

7. System users may upload public domain programs to the system, with written permission from a campus technology coordinator. System users may also download public domain programs for their own use or may non commercially redistribute a public domain program. System users are responsible for determining whether a program is in the public domain and whether or not the program contains destructive components such as viruses.

8. System users may not send or post messages that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to an other’s reputation, or illegal.

9. System users may not purposefully access materials that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to an other’s reputation, or illegal.

10. 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.

11. System users may not waste District resources related to the electronic communications system by using resources for non-related educational or district purposes.

Any malicious attempt to harm or destroy District equipment or data or data of another user of the District’s system, or any other 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 or harmful program components.

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. [See DH, FN series, FO series, and the Student Code of Conduct]

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.

System users and parents of students with access to the District’s system should be aware that use of the system may provide access to other electronic communications systems in the global electronic network that may contain inaccurate and/or objectionable material.

A student who gains access to such material is expected to discontinue the access as quickly as possible and to report the incident to the supervising teacher.

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 in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct.

An employee knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school’s electronic environment will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with District policies. [See DH]

Participating in chat rooms and newsgroups accessed on the Internet is only permissible for students under the appropriate  supervision of a sponsoring teacher. The sponsoring teacher must gain written permission for such activities from her campus  technology coordinator.

Students and staff may develop Web pages for the District’s Web server following the Media Posting Policies set by the District as follows:

1. Promote successful students and educational practices
2. Provide educational and technical awareness to parents, community, faculty, students, and all stakeholders
3. Allow students the opportunity to develop ethical and technical expertise in the fields of communications, broadcasting, and telecommunications
4. Provide a learner-centered environment for: 
   • demonstration of SCANS competencies, 
   • character-building skills
   • research and information skills,
   • use of hardware components, 
   • software programs, 
   • digital and analog video systems, 
   • media input, output, & storage devices, 
   • and contributors to the electronic community
5. Provide a forum for the ethical exchange of knowledge and educational objectives
6. Allow students & teachers to gain recognition for successful practices.

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 any 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.

5. Using the network in such a way that would disrupt the use of the network by other users is prohibited.

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.

The District’s system is provided on an "as is, as available" basis.  The District does not make any warranties, whether express 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 the system users, information providers, service providers, or other third-party individuals in the system are those of the providers and not the Districts.

The District will cooperate fully with local, state, or federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to misuse of the District’s electronic communications system.