District Network Acceptable Use Policy
Revised 07/01/2009
Connecting Education to the World of Information
School and District Technology Usage
The School Board of Indian River County, Florida adheres to the belief that technology must play a vital role in meeting the needs of the broad range of abilities, disabilities, cultural backgrounds and ethnic populations represented in district schools.
To assure that technology shall play a prominent role; this policy provides guidance for appropriate technology utilization and integration into the curriculum, as well as infusion into school/district administration and management.
I. Information Networks Introduction
Authorized Interactive Telecommunication Use Policy
This policy will provide guidelines for the School District of Indian River County's (SDIRC) participation in and use of telecommunications services and networks for administrative and instructional purposes.
District-wide usage of all informational and telecommunication networks is intended to advance and promote a standard of excellence in the education of all Indian River County students.
Telecommunication and network services within the district permit access to and the exchange of information between and among schools, school offices, members of local and state agencies, the public, and the international community.
School district services encompass the collaboration and exchange of information beginning at the primary level with students, teachers and experts statewide, and extending to national and worldwide resources. Included within these resources are the Florida Department of Education, other state, and national and international educational entities.
II. Purpose
The purposes of the district's information network policies are:
a) To foster and support innovation and experimentation in the transformation from the traditional educational approach to a technology oriented model that meets students' needs within Indian River County schools.
b) To create and maintain a set of guidelines and procedures for appropriate and applicable technology use in classrooms, schools and in administrations, management, planning and evaluation.
c) To prepare students for success in the transition from school to the technological workplace.
d) To improve the strategic and tactical operations of the school system.
III. Definitions
Information Network Systems
The district's information systems are bound together under the direction of the Information Technology Department.
The information network, consisting of a variety of services and technologies, is intended to support the District's educational and research purposes and to enhance the educational environment while providing needed data and telecommunications services for operational and district administrative tasks.
The information systems at the School District of Indian River County include, but are not limited to, central computers, computer accounts, microcomputers, printers, networks, other peripheral computer devices, software, electronic mail, web pages, video, telephones, telephone long distance, and telephone voice mail accounts.
These network and telecommunications resources are provided by the School District of Indian River for the use of the district's students, faculty, and staff, as approved, in support of the programs of the school district.
IV. Scope
The School District of Indian River County owns the information network systems. They are to be used for and in conjunction with school district activities only. All use of the network services shall be consistent with the mission, goals, policies, and priorities of the School District of Indian River County.
1. The School District of Indian River County views information retrieval from networks in the same capacity as information retrieval from reference materials identified in schools.
2. Specifically, the Indian River County School Board supports resources that enhance the research and inquiry of the learner with directed guidance from faculty and staff. At school, each student's access to and use of the network shall be under the direction of a school staff member and monitored as a regular educational activity.
3. The School District of Indian River County is subject to Florida Statutes regarding public information access. As such, all electronic messages on the network will be a matter of public record.
V. General Provisions
In general this policy defines that the Information Network (as defined above and referred to as "the network") shall be used in a responsible, efficient, ethical and legal manner in accordance with the mission of the School District of Indian River County.
Users of the network must agree to the general policy and guidelines as a condition for using the network and read and electronically agree to the "Network Acceptable Use Policy". Failure to adhere to the policy and guidelines shall result in disciplinary action.
The use of telecommunications services and the network is a privilege. Use of all telecommunication services and networks shall support teaching, learning, research and administration in accordance with the mission, goals, policies and priorities of the School District of Indian River County. Inappropriate use will result in a cancellation of that privilege.
Because of the decentralized ownership and diverse purposes of computers and networks at SDIRC, a single set of detailed policies and procedures is inappropriate. However, general policies for academic freedom and for responsible, considerate, legal, and ethical behavior extend to the use of information resources such as district microcomputers and workstations, multi-user computers, and world-wide information resources accessible through the network.
Departments, schools and other District units that operate computers and networks should establish additional policies and procedures to meet specific needs.
Each individual who receives an account shall be ultimately responsible for all activity under their account and password. Accounts shall be used only by the authorized user for the purpose specified.
Any attempts to degrade or disrupt system or network performance may be viewed as criminal activity in accordance with applicable state and federal law.
Individuals should not intentionally damage or disable equipment or software without authorization for any purpose.
Files generated by employees are the property of the School District of Indian River County and may be accessed by appropriate authorized system personnel.
Any employee who knowingly transmits or utilizes information which affects the health, safety or welfare of a student or another employee violates the acceptable use policy as well as SB 1712, Ethics in Education Act.
VI. Specific Provisions
Appropriate Use
Acceptable uses of the network are activities that support learning and teaching in Florida. Account holders are encouraged to develop uses which meet their individual needs and which take advantage of the network's functions: electronic mail, conferences, bulletin boards, databases, and access to the Internet.
All members of the School District of Indian River County's public school community may be granted free access to as many network services as district or school resources and availability of technology may permit. Consistent with district anti-discrimination policy the use of information resources should not be denied or abridged because of race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, or physical disability.
Users must be aware of the finite capacity of the network and must cooperate with the network administration to conserve resources and assure equitable access for all. The School District may give priority for resources to certain users or certain groups of users in support of its mission.
Students, faculty, and staff in Indian River County public schools will have access to network resources. In terms of access time each individual school principal or his/her designee will determine unlimited and open-ended use of telecommunications services or networks.
To help maintain the proper functioning of computer and networking hardware and software, the District will take reasonable steps to ensure its computing resources are free of deliberately destructive software such as viruses.
Users must avoid knowingly or inadvertently spreading computer viruses. Individuals must share responsibility for protecting District computers, and should ensure the integrity of any electronic media they introduce.
Downloaded files must be scanned for viruses prior to execution, storage on any networked disk or dissemination to any networked computer.
Deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt system performance will be viewed as criminal activity under applicable state and federal law.
District and network computing resources must be used in a manner consistent with Chapter 815, Florida Statutes Computer Crimes Act and Title 18, United States Code Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.
Unauthorized or fraudulent use of the District's computing resources may result in prosecution and punishment as provided in Florida Statutes, Chapter 775, and Florida Criminal Code.
Examples of unacceptable uses of the network include, but are not limited to:
1. Violating the conditions of The Code of Ethics and Principles of Professional Conduct of the Education Profession of Florida dealing with students' rights to privacy, employee rights to privacy, or violating any other section of the Code. All network users shall adhere to the rules of copyright regarding software, information, and the attribution of authorship.
2. Using the network for political advertisement, political activity, financial gain or for any commercial or illegal activity.
3. Using the network for any purposes other than those intended by this acceptable use policy.
4. Copying or using software, except as explicitly permitted under licensing agreements, is a violation of law. Computer users should be able to prove ownership of software in their possession.
5. Using, accessing, visiting, downloading, or transmitting inappropriate material, messages or images such as pornography, profanity or obscenity.
6. Creating and/or forwarding advertisements, chain letters, mass mailings, get rich quick schemes, and pyramid schemes to individual mailboxes and/or mailing lists.
7. Gambling or conducting any illegal activity.
8. Posting personal views on social, political, religious or other non-business related matters.
9. Creating and/or forwarding messages, jokes, etc., which violate School Board harassment policies and/or create an intimidating or hostile environment.
B. Disclosure and Privacy
The network management accepts no responsibility for harm caused directly or indirectly by its use. Never consider electronic communications to be completely private.
Messages on district computing resources are potentially accessible to others through normal system administration activities and to the public through public record laws.
Hence, the District cannot guarantee absolute privacy of any communication on the network.
The network operators take every possible precaution to safeguard the privacy of email, but instances of misdirected mail, mail inadvertently forwarded to others, and public posting of private correspondence by users have occurred from time to time.
All communications and information accessible via the telecommunications services or network shall be assumed to be the private property of the School District of Indian River County.
The computing and network resources of SDIRC may not be used to impersonate another person or misrepresent authorization to act on behalf of others or the District.
All messages transmitted from the District computers should correctly identify the sender. Users may not alter the attribution of origin in electronic mail messages or postings, and may not send anonymous messages.
The District supports each individual's right to privacy of personal files. However, in the normal course of system administration, the administrator may have to examine user files to gather information to diagnose and correct problems.
Additionally, with reasonable cause for suspicion and appropriate administrative authority, files may be examined by system personnel to determine if a user is acting in violation of the policies set forth in this document.
Authorized system administrators may access private correspondence and files if a user is believed to be in violation of this district policy.
C. Security and Confidentiality
Security is a high priority.
Owners of computer accounts are responsible for all use of the accounts. They should follow guidelines to prevent unauthorized use by others, and report intrusions to the system administrators.
Individuals must not attempt to undermine the security or the integrity of computing systems or networks and must not attempt to gain unauthorized access. Users may not use any computer program or devices to intercept or decode passwords or similar access control information.
Users who identify a security problem must notify a system administrator immediately. Do not show or identify the problem to others.
Do not use another individual's account number or give your account number to anyone else.
Any user identified as a security risk or having a history of problems with other computer systems may be denied access to network resources.
To the extent reasonably possible, users of district sponsored telecommunications services and networks shall be protected from harassment or unsafe, unwanted or unsolicited contact.
Users shall be made aware, and shall acknowledge their awareness, that the designers of the network cannot eliminate, or in some cases, properly restrict the possibility of unwanted access to users, nor can users be completely prevented from accessing services or information that is offensive to, or inappropriate for certain groups of users.
Individual users must be responsible for their own access and conduct in using telecommunications services and networks. This responsibility and accountability for such conduct is clarified through access authorization forms and required training.
To guard against unauthorized and unwelcome network access attempts telecommunication devices that permit access to the network from unsecured points shall be prohibited. Direct dial access modems on computers connected on a LAN or the district WAN are not allowed except the under the specific authorization of the District Network Administrator.
All network users shall adhere to the rules of copyright regarding software, information and the attribution of authorship. Re-posting personal communications without the author's permission to bulletin board message systems without proper attribution shall also be prohibited.
District computers and networks may not be used to invade the privacy of others or make unauthorized use of their work.
Users should not attempt to read or copy files belonging to others, or decrypt or translate encrypted material, unless the files have deliberately been made accessible by the owners or authorization has been obtained to do so.
The District cannot guarantee that, in all instances, copies of critical data will be retained on District systems.
It is ultimately the responsibility of computer users to obtain secure backup copies of essential files for disaster recovery.
D. Internet and World Wide Web
Public school student use of external telecommunications services or networks, such as commercial services or the Internet, through school equipment or authorization shall be properly supervised and shall require written approval from parents/guardians.
Along with access to computers and people all over the world also comes the availability of material that may not be considered to be of educational value in the context of school settings. In an effort to block any inappropriate material, SDIRC has installed filtering software, which examines all internet traffic and discards unacceptable material. The School District views information retrieval from the network in the same capacity as information retrieval from reference materials identified in the schools.
Specifically, the School District of Indian River County supports those that enhance the research and inquiry of the learner with directed guidance from faculty and staff. On a global network it is impossible to control all materials.
The value of the information and its interaction with students generally available on this worldwide network outweigh the possibility of users gaining access to material that is not consistent with the educational goals within each school.
At each school, each student's access to use of the network shall be under the teacher's direction and monitored as a regular instructional activity.
VII. Policy Violations
Violations of computer and network policy as outlined in this document can be dealt with in three ways.
1. Minor violations may be handled informally by system and network administrators or department heads.
2. More serious violations of district rules may be referred to district authorities for action.
3. Suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws will be reported to the proper authorities.
Sponsors of classroom accounts are responsible for teaching proper techniques and standards for participation, for guiding student access to appropriate sections of the network, and for assuring that students understand that if they misuse the network they will lose their privilege to use classroom accounts. Particular concerns include issues of privacy, copyright infringement, email etiquette, and approved and intended use of Telnet resources.
The person in whose name an account is issued is responsible at all times for its proper use. Users should change their passwords frequently. Any use of telecommunication services or networking for illegal, inappropriate, or obscene purposes, or in support of such activities, shall be prohibited. Illegal activities shall be defined as a violation of local, state, and/or federal laws. Inappropriate use shall be defined as a violation of the intended use in support of the district's mission, goals, policies or procedures.
Students may not copy files, programs, or another person's work while on the network unless such work is part of a District approved application. Students will not attempt to change system configurations or setups. Students are not allowed to load files or programs onto a local hard drive or the network system without specific authorization of the network administrator.
Intervention strategies should range from minimum to maximum, depending on the severity of the violation. These strategies may include:
1. Administration/student conference or reprimand
2. Special training on proper procedures
3. Administrator/parent conference
4. Referrals/conferences with support staff
5. Behavioral contracts
6. Suspension from network use for specified period of time
VIII. Responsibility for Policy
Users may occasionally be required to update your network registration, password and account information to continue network and telecommunication access. Users must notify the district of any changes in your account information (address, school, etc.)
Student:
Students must:
- Read and understand the Acceptable Use Policy before network access is granted.
- Indicate agreement to use online telecommunications in a responsible manner by electronically agreeing to the Acceptable Use Policy.
- Understand that online telecommunications usage is a privilege.
- Report inappropriate materials (solicited or unsolicited) to supervising staff members.
- Understand that misuse of the network may result in removal of future network access and/or progressive discipline as specified in the student Code of Conduct and/or school discipline guide.
Parents or Guardians:
Parents or guardians who desire to allow their child access to the network must:
- Understand that online telecommunications access will provide important educational opportunities, but require student responsibility.
- Read, understand, and agree to abide by the Acceptable Use Policy before network access is granted.
- Read and discuss the Acceptable Use Policy with their child[ren], emphasizing the necessity for ethical behavior.
- Sign and return "Student Network Access Application” .
- Supervise online telecommunications use at home, and get to know what types of information are available on the services being used.
Parents and guardians must also recognize it is impossible for the School Board of Indian River County, Florida to restrict access to all controversial materials on the network, and will not hold them responsible for materials accessed or posted on the network, within or outside the school setting.
They must be aware that the misuse of the network will result in disciplinary actions and that future access may be denied. In addition, for each child granted access specific parental permission to use online telecommunication services must be given.
Teachers:
At each school each student's access to use of the network shall be under the teacher's direction and monitored as a regular instructional activity.
Teachers must:
- Use online telecommunications to support teaching, learning, and research.
- Become knowledgeable about and electronically agree to the Acceptable Use Policy.
- Assure that students have signed acceptable use policy forms before being permitted to use online telecommunications.
- Instruct and support the Acceptable Use Policy rules and code of ethics.
- Supervise use of this resource.
- Handle violations in accordance with school and district policies.
Sponsors of classroom accounts are responsible for teaching proper techniques and standards for participation, and for guiding student access for appropriate sections of the network.
Sponsors are also responsible for assuring that students understand that if they misuse the network they will lose their privilege to use classroom accounts and also subject themselves to potential disciplinary action(s).
Any violations of the use of the network shall be reported to the assigned teacher or technology facilitator and the assigned principal/administrator.
Principal / Administrators:
Each school or site administrator shall designate a person responsible for distributing access forms, authorizing access and maintaining all appropriate documentation.
Principals / Administrators must:
1. Become knowledgeable about School and District Technology Usage Policy, and the Acceptable Use Policy in particular.
2. Electronically agree to the Acceptable Use policy.
3. Articulate the Acceptable Use Policy and its importance to teachers and students.
4. Know where and how online telecommunication is being used at the school.
5. Oversee the use of these resources to assure that staff utilizes this technology in accordance with the Acceptable Use Policy.
6. Develop school-wide procedures for initial and ongoing supervision of this curricular application.
7. Encourage continued in-service on the effective utilization of this technology.
Staff:
All Employees must:
1. Read and understand the Acceptable Use Policy before network access is granted.
2. Indicate agreement to use online telecommunications in a responsible manner by electronically agreeing to the Acceptable Use Policy.
3. Understand that online telecommunications usage is a privilege.
4. Report inappropriate materials (solicited or unsolicited) to supervising staff members.
5. Understand that misuse of the network may result in removal of future network access and/or progressive discipline as follows: document verbal warning presented in conference with the employee; letter of reprimand, suspension, termination. Serious first offences may result in an immediate strong consequence up to and including termination.
6. It is the employee’s responsibility to read and be familiar with the Employee Handbook. This handbook summarizes the policies, procedures, benefits, code of ethics and expectations of the School District of Indian River County. The handbook can be found by visiting the District website and clicking on Employees in the top navigation.
Superintendent
The superintendent or his/her designee shall be responsible for authorizing use of telecommunications services or networks in accordance with this policy.