Internet Safety Policy
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The Sutton Public School District is pleased to give the privilege
of computer network and Internet access to all students, faculty members, and
staff.
The Internet is a worldwide network of interconnected computers
that allows users, including students, corporations, government agencies,
authors, doctors, and scientists to share information with one another. The Internet also provides an opportunity
for users to communicate with each other, no matter how far apart they are
geographically. Because of its enormous size, the Internet provides an almost
limitless amount of information that can be put to great educational
purposes. With such great potential for
education also comes the potential for the posting or retrieval, intentionally
or unintentionally, of inappropriate or harmful material. The Sutton Public Schools will make every
reasonable effort to minimize the risk that users will encounter objectionable
material on the Internet. However,
there is no absolute guarantee that this will not happen. The Sutton Public School intends to utilize
any blocking or filtering safeguards required by law in order to filter all
Internet activity for depictions that are (1) obscene, (2) child pornographic,
or (3) harmful to minors. With these
measures, in addition to user education, implementation of this policy and
grade-appropriate supervision, the Sutton Public Schools believes that the Internet
can be used safely to enhance the delivery of educational services.
The Sutton Public School’s computer network, which includes World
Wide Web access and electronic mail capability, exists solely for educational
purposes, which are defined as classroom activities, research projects directly
related to class assignments, career and professional development, and high
quality self-discovery activities of an educational nature. The Sutton Public School’s computer network
is not to be considered a resource intended for use as a public forum or for
any purpose that is not directly related to the delivery of educational
services.
Members of the Sutton Public School’s community are responsible
for good behavior on school computer networks just as they are in a classroom
or in a hallway. Communications on the
network may reach larger audiences than face-to-face conversations or telephone
discussions. General school rules for
behavior and communications apply.
Access to network services will be provided to those who act in a
considerate and responsible manner.
The Sutton Public Schools believe that the benefits to students
from access to information resources and opportunity for collaboration
available through the Internet exceed the
potential disadvantages.
However, the parents and guardians of minors are responsible for setting
and conveying the standards that their children should follow when using media
and information sources. To that end,
the Sutton Public Schools respects each family’s right to decide whether or not
their child will have independent access to the World Wide Web and an
individual e-mail account at school. In
making this decision, families should be aware that the Sutton Public School
intends to vary the degree of directly supervised and generally supervised Web
access and e-mail in the schools according to grade levels.
Access to Obscenity or Material Harmful to Minors
The Sutton
Public School District utilizes CyberPatrol by Surfwatch to actively filter all
Internet activity for visual depictions that are (1) obscene, (2) child
pornographic, or (3) harmful to minors.
Teachers will also monitor the online activities of students through
direct observation to ensure that students are not accessing material that is
inappropriate to minors.
1.
Users will
not post any personal information about themselves or others. This includes full name, addresses, phone
numbers, etc.
2.
Users agree
not to meet with people they have made contact with online without the
participation of a parent.
Security
1.
Users agree
not to disclose their personal account information to others.
2.
Users agree
to notify the teacher or school principal if they encounter a security issues,
or they believe someone is accessing their account or other unauthorized
information.
3.
Users agree
not to hack into any part of the school network or initiate any hacking
activities from the school network.
4.
Users agree
not to introduce or generate computer viruses on school computers.
1.
Users will
not attempt to access any unauthorized system or data via the District computer
network. This includes accessing other
users or unauthorized account information or passwords.
2.
Users agree
not to log in using another user’s password.
3.
Users agree
not to deliberately impair or destroy computer systems or data.
4.
Users agree
not to deliberately introduce viruses into the District.
5.
Users agree
not to use the District computer network for illegal activities. This includes the sending of threats,
purchasing or selling illegal items, etc.
Appropriate law enforcement agencies will be notified.
6.
Users agree
not to copy or remove software from the school network.
Plagiarism
1.
Users agree
not to plagiarize works accessed via the computer network.
2.
Users agree
to respect all copyright laws. Users
will not reproduce or claim ownership of material developed by others.
1.
Users agree
not to use the District network to access any material that contains profane,
obscene, or inappropriate content.
2.
Users agree
to report any accidental accessing of profane, obscene, or inappropriate
materials to a teacher or faculty member.
3.
Users agree
to report any access of profane, obscene, or inappropriate materials by other
users to a teacher or faculty member.
Inappropriate Behavior and Activities
1.
Users agree
not to use obscene, vulgar, rude, harassing, threatening, or disrespectful
language.
2.
Users agree
not to use the District network for commercial activity or political lobbying.
3.
Users agree
not to use the District network to discuss or transmit highly sensitive or
confidential school department information.
4.
Users agree
that they will not send chain letters, broadcast messages or lists to
individuals, subscribe to list-services or newsgroups or participate in
discussion groups or chat rooms, without expressed prior permission and
supervision.
5.
Users agree
not to download files that do not have an educational purpose. Games, file sharing software, MP3 files or
other non-educational materials should not be downloaded.
6.
Users agree
not to change or modify computer or network settings. This includes, but is not
limited to, backgrounds, screensavers, icons, display, and printer settings.
7.
Users agree
not to download, install, or use Instant Messaging, chat software, or to use
the network as a phone in any way on the school network.
8.
Users agree
not to access personal e-mail accounts over the school network; this includes
HTML based e-mail accounts such as Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. Any e-mail that is required for an
educational purpose must be sent with the teacher’s permission and supervision
through the teacher’s e-mail account.
All e-mail traffic should be of an educational nature and no user should
encourage the sending or receiving of illegal, obscene, or threatening
messages.
9.
Users agree
to use computers only when supervised by a member of the faculty or staff. Unsupervised use of computers is prohibited.
10. Users agree not to send messages or post
information that would likely result in the loss of a recipient’s work or
system.
11. Users agree not to participate in other
types of use that would cause congestion of the network or interfere with the
work of others.
12. Users agree not to attempt to override or
bypass any filters or blocks on the computer system without prior permission of
the supervising staff member.
13. Users agree that they will not attempt to
harm, modify, or destroy data of another user.
Account Responsibilities
1.
Users agree
to use the District computer network for educational purposes only.
2.
Users agree
to download educational files to their network directory (h:\drive) only. Files should not be downloaded to hard
drives or unauthorized areas of the network.
3.
Users agree
to remove unnecessary files as soon as possible or they may be subject to
periodic purging.
4.
Users agree
that the District provides network accounts as a courtesy and that they can be
withdrawn if violations occur.
5.
All
messages and information created, sent, or retrieved on the network are the
property of Sutton Public Schools.
Electronic mail messages and other use of electronic resources by users
are also the property of the Sutton Public Schools and should not be considered
confidential. Copies of all information
created, sent, or retrieved are stored on the computer network’s back-up files. While the Sutton Public Schools does not
plan to review cache files or back-up files on a regular basis, it reserves the
right to access and monitor all messages and files on the computer system as it
deems necessary and appropriate in the ordinary course of its business for
purposes including, but not limited to, ensuring proper use of resources and
conducting routine network maintenance.
Where appropriate, communications including text and images may be
disclosed to law enforcement or other third parties without prior consent of
the sender or receiver.
6.
The Sutton
Public Schools assumes no responsibility for:
a.
Any
unauthorized charges or fees, including telephone charges, long distance
charges, per minute surcharges and/or equipment or line costs.
b.
Any
financial obligations arising out of unauthorized use of the system for the
purchase of products or services.
c.
Any cost,
liability, or damages caused by a user’s violation of these guidelines.
d.
Any
information or materials that are transferred through the network.
Users agree that they will be individually responsible for any
unauthorized costs associated with their use of the District computer network.
Failure to abide by any of these rules may
result in disciplinary action, including suspension of network privileges or
legal prosecution.
Adopted February
3, 2003