General User Policy

Gatesville Independent School District Acceptable Use Policy

Electronic Communication and Data Management

The Superintendent or designee shall implement, monitor, and evaluate electronic media resources for instructional and administrative purposes.

Availability of Access

Access to the District’s electronic communications system, including the Internet, shall be made available to students and employees exclusively for instructional and administrative purposes and in accordance with administrative regulations.

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 all administrative regulations governing use of the system and shall agree in writing to comply with such regulations and guidelines.  Noncompliance with applicable regulations or use that violates the student code of conduct or employee standards of conduct may result in suspension or termination of privileges and other disciplinary action consistent with District policies. Violations of law may result in criminal prosecution as well as disciplinary action by the District.

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].

Monitored Use

Electronic mail transmissions and other use of the electronic communications system by students and employees shall not be considered confidential and may be monitored at any time by designated District staff to ensure appropriate use for educational or administrative purposes. Administrators reserve the right to examine, use and disclose any data found on the school’s information networks in order to further the health, safety, discipline or security of any student or other person, or to protect property. This information may also be used in disciplinary actions and may be furnished as evidence of a crime to law enforcement.

Disclaimer of Liability

The District shall not be liable for users’ inappropriate use of electronic communication resources or violations of copyright restrictions, users’ mistakes or negligence, or costs incurred by users.  The District shall not be responsible for ensuring the accuracy or usability of any information found on the Internet.

Local Regulations

Electronic Communication and Data Management

The District’s system will be used only for administrative and educational purposes consistent with the District’s mission and goals.  Commercial use of the District’s system is strictly prohibited.

The District will provide training to employees in the proper use of the system and will provide all users with acceptable use guidelines.  All training in the use of the District’s system will emphasize the ethical use of this resource.

System Access

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

1.      With the approval of the administration, District employees will be granted access to the District’s system.

2.      The District will require that all passwords be changed every year.

3.      Students completing required course work on the system will have first priority for use of District equipment after school hours.

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

Campus Level Responsibilities

The principal or designee will:

1.      Be responsible for disseminating and enforcing applicable District policies and acceptable use guidelines for the District’s system at the campus level.

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 principal’s office.

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

Individual User Responsibilities

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.      System users shall not let others use their name, logon, password or files for any reason (except for authorized staff members).

3.      Viewing or participating in non-instructional/non-administrative Internet games, Internet chat rooms, social network sites, commercial e-mail or webmail (e.g. Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL or Gmail) other than those sponsored and overseen by the District is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, instant messaging or personal use of streaming media.

4.      System users may redistribute copyrighted programs or data such as software, audio, video, files and graphics only 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.

5.      Users may not download, upload, install or otherwise use programs or software of any type without prior express written permission from the GISD Technology Department. This includes, but is not limited to, executing “portable” applications located on mobile media or devices.

6.      Users shall not use system resources to purposefully access or view materials, distribute, create, or copy messages or materials that are abusive, obscene, sexually-oriented, threatening, racist, excessively violent, harassing, damaging to another's reputation, or illegal. GISD provides filtering mechanisms to help prevent accidental access to such materials; however, filters are not all-inclusive and will not block all inappropriate sites. In the event that accidental access to prohibited materials occurs, users are expected to immediately discontinue such access and report the incident to the supervising teacher or administrator.

7.      Users shall not bypass or attempt to bypass GISD security measures through means such as, but not limited to, online proxies, bootable media, IP spoofing, etc.

8.      Users shall not alter or vandalize computers, networks, printers, or other associated equipment and system resources. Alteration or vandalism includes, but is not limited to, removal of parts, intentional destruction of equipment, attempting to degrade or disrupt system performance, or attempting to make system resources unusable.

9.      Users shall not relocate or remove technology equipment (hardware or software) from its location without express permission of the GISD Technology Department.

10.    GISD does not support personal equipment or software. Users shall not install personal software on GISD owned computers. GISD personnel shall not attach personal devices to GISD resources. Students shall not attach personal devices to GISD resources.

11.    Students will not be permitted to have cell phones or other electronic media devices (iPods, mp3 players, digital cameras etc.) in their possession in the testing environment on state testing days. In grades 7-12, students will turn their phones in to the test administrator and sign a form acknowledging that the use of cell phones/devices is not allowed.

12.    Students of GISD shall not utilize any district technology resource without direct supervision at all times by a teacher or administrator.

13.    Users should be aware that electronic mail (e-mail) and all other files stored on GISD's network are the property of GISD. Users should not send any messages or create any files that they would not want to be made public. Space restrictions will be implemented according to District guidelines.

14.    Users shall not use system resources for the forgery or attempted forgery of e-mail messages. Attempts to read, delete, copy, or modify the e-mail of other system users, deliberate interference with the ability of other users to send/receive e-mail, or the use of another person's e-mail account is prohibited.

15.    Users with GISD e-mail access shall not waste district resources through inappropriate use of the network including use of GISD group e-mail distribution lists to send non-administrative or non-instructional messages to other users (e.g. chain letters, broadcast messages, personal advertisements, personal forums, gossip, personal opinions or political agendas).

16.    Users who identify or know of a security problem on the system must notify the technology department, principal, or teacher immediately and must not demonstrate or verbalize the security problem to other users.

17.    Users shall not incur online credit card charges or any other charges without prior District authorization and according to established District purchasing procedures.

18.    Any malicious attempt to harm or destroy District equipment or materials, 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 may be viewed as violations of District policy and administrative regulations and, possibly, as criminal activity under applicable state and federal laws.  This includes, but is not limited to, the uploading or creating of computer viruses.

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 provide access to other electronic communications systems in the global electronic network that may contain inaccurate and/or objectionable material.

A student knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school’s electronic environment will be subject to a 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 of disciplinary action in accordance with District policies.

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 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.      Revealing personal addresses or phone numbers of the user or others is prohibited.

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

The District may suspend or revoke a system user’s access to the District’s system upon violation of District policy and/or administrative regulations regarding acceptable use.

Termination of an employee’s account or of a student’s access 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, 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 the 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.