Gatesville Independent School District
Acceptable Use Policy as Approved by the School Board
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 may result in suspension or
termination of privileges and other disciplinary action consistent with
District policies [See DH, FNC, FNCJ, FO, and the Student Code of
Conduct]. 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.
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 copies of acceptable use guidelines.
All training in the use of the District’s system will emphasize the
ethical use of this resource.
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 the owner specifically authorizes may
upload copyrighted material to the system.
System Access
Access to the District’s
electronic communications system will be governed as follows:
- With the approval of the immediate supervisor,
District employees will be granted access to the District’s system.
- The District will require that all passwords be
changed every year.
- A teacher may apply for a class account and, in
doing so, will be ultimately responsible for use of the account. Teachers with accounts will be required
to maintain password confidentiality by not sharing password with students
or others.
- Students completing required course work on the
system will have first priority for use of District equipment after school
hours.
- 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.
District Level Coordinator Responsibilities
As the district level
coordinator for the electronic communications system, the superintendent or
designee will:
- Be responsible for disseminating and enforcing
applicable District policies and acceptable use guidelines for the
District’s system.
- 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 campus principal’s office.
- Ensure that employees supervising students who
use the District’s system provide training emphasizing the appropriate use
of this resource.
- Be authorized to monitor or examine all system
activities, including electronic mail transmissions, as deemed appropriate
to ensure proper use of the system.
- 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.
- Set limits for disk utilization on the system, as
needed.
Campus Level Coordinator Responsibilities
As the campus level
coordinator for the electronic communications system, the principal or designee
will:
- Be responsible for disseminating and enforcing
applicable District policies and acceptable use guidelines for the
District’s system at the campus level.
- 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.
- 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:
On-Line Conduct
- The individual in whose name a system account is
issued will be responsible at all times for its proper use.
- The system may not be used for illegal purposes,
in support of illegal activities, or for any other activity prohibited by
District policy.
- System users may not use another person’s system
account without written permission from the campus administrator or
District coordinator, as appropriate.
- System users must purge electronic mail in
accordance with established retention guidelines.
- System users may redistribute copyrighted
programs or data only with the written permission of the copyright holder
or designee. Such permission must
be specified in the document or must be obtained directly form the
copyright holder or designee in accordance with applicable copyright laws,
District policy, and administrative regulations.
- System users may upload public domain programs to
the system. System users may also
download public domain programs for their own use or may noncommercially redistribute a public domain program. System users are responsible for
determining whether a program is in the public domain.
- 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.
Vandalism Prohibited
Vandalism as defined above
will result in the cancellation of system use privileges and will require
restitution for costs associated with system restoration, hardware, or software
costs.
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 or deliberate interference with the ability of other system users
to send/receive electronic mail 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 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 suspension and/or 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:
- Be polite; messages typed in capital letters are
the computer equivalent of shouting and are considered rude.
- Use appropriate language; swearing, vulgarity,
ethnic or racial slurs, and any other inflammatory language are
prohibited.
- Pretending to be someone else when
sending/receiving messages is considered inappropriate.
- Transmitting obscene messages or pictures is
prohibited.
- Revealing personal addresses or phone numbers of
the user or others 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
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.
|
Internet
Safety Policy as Approved by the Gatesville ISD School Board
Internet
users are expected to use the Internet as an educational resource. The
following procedures and guidelines are used to help ensure safe and
appropriate use of the Internet at Gatesville
Independent School
District.
Student
Expectations in Use of the Internet
- Students shall not access material that is
obscene, pornographic, child pornography, "harmful to minors",
or otherwise inappropriate for educational uses.
- Students shall not use school resources to
engage in "hacking" or attempts to otherwise compromise system
security.
- Students shall not engage in any illegal
activities on the Internet.
- Students shall only use electronic mail, chat
rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications for
school-related purposes.
- Students shall not disclose personal
information, such as name, school, address, and telephone number outside
of the school network.
Any
violation of school policy and rules may result in loss of school-provided
access to the Internet. Additional disciplinary action may be determined in
keeping with existing procedures and practices regarding inappropriate
language or behavior. When and where applicable, law enforcement agencies may
be involved.
Staff
Expectations in Use of the Internet
- Staff shall not use access material that is
obscene or is child pornography.
Any
violation of school policy may result in loss of school-provided access to
the Internet. Additional disciplinary action may be determined in keeping
with existing procedures and practices. When and where applicable, law
enforcement agencies may be involved.
Enforcement
of policy
- Gatesville Independent
School District uses a
technology protection measure that blocks or filters Internet access to
block access to some Internet sites that are not in accordance with the
policy of Gatesville
Independent School District.
- The technology protection measure that blocks
or filters Internet access may be disabled by a Gatesville Independent
School District
staff member for bona fide research purposes by an adult.
- A Gatesville
Independent School District staff member may
override the technology protection measure that blocks or filters
Internet access for a student to access a site with legitimate educational
value that is wrongly blocked by the technology protection measure that
blocks or filters Internet access.
- Gatesville Independent
School District staff will monitor students' use of the
Internet, through either direct supervision, or by monitoring Internet
use history, to ensure enforcement of the policy.
Gatesville Independent School
District Internet Acceptable Use Policy, Approved by Gatesville Independent School
Board, (August 20, 2001)
|