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  3. Acceptable Use Policy

Acceptable Use Policy

Table of Contents

  • General Information
  • Consent Requirements
  • Filtering
  • Requests to Disable Filter
  • System Access
  • Technology Director Responsibilities
  • Individual User Responsibilities Online Conduct
  • Vandalism Prohibited
  • Forgery Prohibited
  • Information Content / Third-Party Supplied Information
  • Participation in Chat Rooms and Cyberbullying
  • Development of Web Pages
  • School or Class Web Pages
  • Extracurricular Organization Web Pages
  • Personal Web Pages
  • Network Etiquette
  • Termination / Revocation of System User Account
  • Disclaimer

General Information

The Superintendent or designee will oversee the District's electronic communications system.

By agreeing to the acceptable use policy, the student or employee agrees to have a District Office 365 account and a District Google account created in their name and maintained by the District Technology Staff to be used to log on to the District network.  Also, by agreeing to the acceptable use policy, you understand that all activity on all district wired or wireless devices is monitored at all times and that there is no expectation of privacy.

The District will provide training in the 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 and safe 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 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 if the student is a minor) 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.

Filtering

The Technology Department will maintain appropriate technology for filtering Internet sites containing material considered inappropriate or harmful to minors.  All Internet access will be filtered for minors and adults on computers with Internet access provided by the school.

The categories of material considered inappropriate and to which access will be blocked will include, but not be limited to:  nudity/pornography; images or descriptions of sexual acts; promotion of violence, illegal use of weapons, drug use, discrimination, or participation in hate groups; instructions for performing criminal acts (e.g., bomb-making); and online gambling.

Requests to Disable Filter

The Technology Department will consider requests from users who wish to use a blocked site for bona fide research or other lawful purposes. The Technology Department will make decisions regarding approval or disapproval of disabling the filer for the requested use.

System Access

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

1.  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 granted access to the district's system through designated usernames and passwords.

3.  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.

4.  All users will be required to sign a user agreement annually for issuance or renewal of an account.

Technology Director Responsibilities

The Technology Director for the District's electronic communications system will:

1.  Be responsible for disseminating and enforcing applicable District policies and acceptable use guidelines for the District's system.

2.  Ensure that all users of the District's system complete and sign an agreement annually to abide by District policies and administrative regulations regarding such use. All such agreements will be maintained on file at each campus as well as with the District’s Technology Director.

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 systems activities, including electronic mail transmissions, as deemed appropriate to ensure student safety online and proper use of the system.

6.  Be authorized to disable a filtering device on the system for bona fide research or another lawful purpose.

7.  Be authorized to establish a retention schedule for messages on any electronic bulletin board and to remove messages posted locally that are deemed to be inappropriate.

8.  Set limits for data storage within the District's system, as needed.

Individual User Responsibilities Online 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 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 policy or guidelines.

3.  System users may not disable, or attempt to disable, a filtering device on the District's electronic communications system.

4.  Communications may not be encrypted so as to avoid security review by system administrators.

5.  Systems users may not use another person's system account without written permission from the campus administrator or District Technology Director, as appropriate.

6.  Students may not distribute personal information about themselves or others by means of the electronic communication system; this includes, but is not limited to, personal addresses and telephone numbers.

7.  Students should never make appointments to meet people whom they meet online and should report to a teacher or administrator if they receive any request for such a meeting.

8.  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.  This includes, but is not limited to, the illegal reproduction of compact discs (CDs).

9.  System users should avoid actions that are likely to increase the risk of introducing viruses to the system, such as opening e-mail messages from unknown senders and loading data from unprotected computers.

10.   System users may not send or post messages that are abusive, obscene, pornographic, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another's reputation, or illegal.

11.   System users may not purposefully access materials that are abusive, obscene, pornographic, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another's reputation, or illegal.

12.  System users must never plug in or connect any unauthorized network devices such as routers or switches, etc... to the district network in any way.

13.   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 intentions.

14.   System users may not waste District resources related to the electronic communications system.

15.   System users may not gain unauthorized access to resources or information.

16.   All District-wide email must have the prior approval of the Superintendent or the technology director.

17.   All campus-wide email must have the prior approval of the campus principal.

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, despite the District's use of technology protection measures as required by law, 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 materials 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.

Participation in Chat Rooms and Cyberbullying

Participation in chat rooms, newsgroups and social networking websites accessed on the Internet is not permissible for students or employees. The safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications will be monitored at all times by the Technology Department.

Cyberbullying is strictly prohibited on the district's network. The district will educate all students about appropriate online behavior, including cyberbullying, chat rooms, and online safety and security. To report cyberbullying click here: report.bully@borgerisd.net.

Development of Web Pages

The District will maintain a District website for the purposes of informing employees, students, parents, and members of the community of District programs, policies, and practices.  Requests for publication of information on the District website must be directed to the designated Webmaster.  The Technology Director and the District Webmaster will establish guidelines for the development and format of web pages controlled by the District.

No personally identifiable information regarding a student will be published on a website controlled by the District without written permission from the student's parent.

No commercial advertising will be permitted on a website controlled by the District.

Personal Web Pages

District employees, trustees, and members of the public will not be permitted to publish personal web pages using District resources. District employee web pages for the purpose of school-related business are acceptable upon approval of the District’s web master.

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, an ethnic slur, a racial slur, or any other inflammatory language is prohibited.

3.  Pretending to be someone else when sending/receiving messages is considered inappropriate.

4.  Transmitting obscene messages or pictures is prohibited.

5.  Be considerate when sending attachments with email; consider whether a file may be too large to be accommodated by the recipient's system, maybe in a format unreadable by the recipient, or may contain a computer virus.

6.  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 director 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, 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 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 of the District's electronic communications system.