JICL – Internet Safety and Responsible Use – for Students

Overview

The ConVal School District provides its students access to a multitude of technology resources. These resources provide opportunities to enhance learning and improve communication within our education community and with the global community beyond our campus. However, with the privilege of access is the responsibility of students to exercise appropriate personal responsibility in their use of these resources.

The ConVal School District policies are intended to promote the most effective, safe, productive, and instructionally sound uses of networked information and communication tools, including preventing unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, information protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The District also makes a good faith effort to protect its students from exposure to Internet materials that are harmful, obscene, violent, or otherwise inappropriate. The District maintains an Internet content filtering system that meets federal standards established in the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by blocking access to inappropriate material on the Internet and ensuring the safety and security of minors when using email, social media, and other forms of direct electronic communications.

Digital Citizenship

The ConVal School District provides information and technology resources for use in safe, legal, and responsible ways. A responsible digital citizen is one who:

  1. Respects one’s self. Users will use online names that are issued to them, and will carefully consider the appropriateness of any information and images that are posted online.
  2. Respects others. Users will refrain from using technologies to bully, tease, or harass other people. Users will not masquerade using a false identity or impersonate others.
  3. Protects one’s self and others. Users will protect themselves and others by using secure passwords, logging out of a computer when finished, not sharing passwords with others, and by reporting abuse and not forwarding inappropriate materials or communications.
  4. Respects and protects intellectual property. Users will suitably cite any and all use of websites, books, media, etc., and will request to use the software and media others have produced.
  5. Respects the District’s technology equipment, network, and resources. Users will avoid bandwidth-intensive tasks, the transfer of unnecessarily large files, and the submission of multiple copies of the same print job to a printer. Users are prohibited from attempting to install or download software onto District-owned computers.
  6. Protects the conval.edu and cvsd.me domains from inappropriate use. Users will use District-provided accounts and subscriptions for school work only. Users will respect filters and other security systems and not attempt to defeat them.

To help ensure student safety and citizenship in online activities, all students will be educated about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms, and about cyberbullying awareness and response.

Expectations

Responsible use of the District’s technology resources is expected to be ethical, respectful, academically honest, and supportive of the School District’s mission. Each computer user has the responsibility to respect every other person in our community and on the Internet. Digital storage and electronic devices used for school purposes are viewed as extensions of the physical school space. Administrators, or their designees, may review files and communications (including electronic mail) to ensure that users are using the system in accordance with District policy. Users do not have any expectation of privacy of any information stored on servers or transmitted through District communication systems. Users should also understand that school servers, as well as non-school servers, regularly record Internet activity in log files and that, if requested under New Hampshire’s “Right to Know” law (RSA 91-A: Access to Public Records and Meetings), the District must provide this information.

Some activities are expressly prohibited by law. Users are expected to abide by the generally accepted rules of network etiquette. The following guidelines are intended to clarify expectations for conduct, but they should not be construed as all-inclusive:

  1. Use of electronic devices should be consistent with the District’s educational objectives, mission, and curriculum.
  2. Transmission of any material in violation of any local, federal, and state laws is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to copyrighted material, licensed material, threatening or obscene material, and unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information of minors.
  3. Intentional or unintentional use of computing resources to access or process proxy sites, pornographic material, explicit text or files, material that is demeaning or degrading, content that is violent or harmful to minors, or files dangerous to the integrity of the network are strictly prohibited.
  4. Use of computing resources for commercial activities, product advertisement, or religious or political lobbying is prohibited.
  5. Users may be held personally and financially responsible for damage done to network software, data, user accounts, hardware, and/or unauthorized costs incurred.
  6. Files stored on District-managed networks may be inspected at any time and should not be considered private.
  7. Protects the conval.edu and cvsd.me domains from inappropriate use. Users will use District-provided accounts and subscriptions for school work only. Users will respect filters and other security systems and not attempt to defeat them.

The School District reserves the right to refuse access to the Internet to anyone. Violating any portion of this policy may result in disciplinary action, including suspension or dismissal from school, and/or legal action. The School District will cooperate with law enforcement officers in investigations related to illegal activities conducted through its network.

Jurisdiction

This policy is in effect:

  • When CVSD-provided equipment (laptops, tablets, etc.) is used on or off school property;
  • When non-CVSD devices access the District’s network or District resources in school or out of school if the use creates a hostile environment at school for any student/employee and/or cause disruption or disorder within a school.

Legal References:
          U.S. Pub. L. No. 106-554, Children’s Internet Protection Act (www.ifea.net/cipa.html)
         U.S. Pub. L. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2581-728, enacted October 21, 1998, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) (15 U.S.C. §§                  6501–6506)
       NH RSA 194:3-d, School District Computer Networks.

Category: P

See also EHAA

First Read: May 1, 2018
Second Read: May 15, 2018
Adopted: May 15, 2018