AASD

Guide

Technology Use Policy

Mission Statement

The Athens Area School District is pleased to bring a wide range of technology resources to all technology users in the District. These services offer valuable and unique resources to students, faculty, staff and others. Our goal in providing these services is to promote educational excellence in our schools by facilitating resource sharing, innovation, and communication.

Purpose

Authority

With access to computers, networks, and people all over the world also comes the availability of material that may not be considered of educational value in the context of the school setting. While Athens Area Schools will make every effort to regulate the usage of the Internet, it can make no guarantees that students, faculty, staff or others will not come into contact with objectionable material. Internet access is coordinated through a complex association of government agencies, and regional and state networks. In addition, the smooth operation of the network relies upon the proper conduct of the end users who must adhere to strict guidelines. These guidelines are provided here so that you are aware of your personal responsibilities as system users.

The Athens Area School District is committed to taking reasonable precautions to restrict access to controversial information. The Athens Area School District believes that the valuable information and interaction available on this worldwide network far outweighs the possibility that users may procure material that is not consistent with the educational goals of the District.

The authorized use of District technology resources by anyone is considered a privilege that may be denied for inappropriate and/or illegal use as set forth in this and related policies and/or Federal and State laws.   Furthermore, violations of the guidelines set forth by the school district or other improper use of these resources may result in disciplinary action in accordance with established disciplinary procedures for students, faculty, staff and others.

Unauthorized use of District technology resources is expressly forbidden.   Such use will result in disciplinary action in accordance with established disciplinary procedures for students, faculty, staff and others and/or will be formally reported to the proper legal authorities.

The Board expects all District technology users to be law-abiding citizens; to respect the rights of others, and to refrain from behavior which tends to impair the school district's purpose, which tends to impure its reputation within the community and/or causes the District to incur expenses.  The framework of responsible, considerate, and ethical behavior expected by the Board, as set forth in policy and guidelines, covers the use of the District's microcomputers, workstations, computing laboratory facilities, general access timesharing systems, networks, network resources and other District technologies.

The school District reserves the right to log and monitor District technology use by all users.  Accordingly, system users possess no privacy expectation in the contents of their personal files or messages on the school resources and/or passed through the school resources.  Specifically, routine maintenance and monitoring of the system may lead to discovery that a user has or is violating this or other policies of the Athens Area School District and/or the law of the United States of America or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Moreover, an individual search will be conducted if there is reasonable suspicion that a user has violated the law or the District's policies.  Finally, all users should be aware that their personal files may be discoverable under state public record laws.

Use of District technology resources as well as any information obtained through these resources is at the user's own risk.  The school district makes no warranties of any kind; either expressed or implied that the functions, services or data provided by or through the District technologies will be error-free, virus-free or without defect.  Specifically, the District will not be responsible for any damage users may suffer, including, but not limited to, loss of data or interruptions of service.  The District also will not be responsible for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through or stored on these resources.  Finally, the District will not be responsible for any financial obligation arising from the use of District technologies.

Internet and Network Acceptable Use

The purpose of using the computer network and Internet access in our schools is to support research and education by providing access to unique resources and the opportunity for collaborative work. The use of District accounts must be in support of education and research consistent with the educational objectives of the Athens Area School District. Transmission of any material in violation of school policy or any U.S. or state regulation is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material, threatening or obscene material, or material protected by trade secrets.

Students who are permitted by their parents or guardians and faculty members will be given an Athens Network account with 20MB of personal storage space and an E-mail account for use on the Internet. The use of chat lines (IRC, Instant messaging, etc.) will not be permitted except under the direct supervision of the teacher for use in a class for a specific educational goal. Faculty will be permitted to send personal E-mail during non-school hours as long as their use does not incur any expense to the District, does not interfere with student use and does not violate any of the acceptable use restrictions in this policy.

The Athens Area School Districts makes every effort to ensure that technology resources are available. Such an extensive system however can be influenced by the introduction of non-approved external resources. With this in mind, no technology may be brought into any school district building without expressed permission from the district Technology Department. This includes Televisions, VCR/DVD players, computers, laptops, monitors, projectors, extension cords, printers, etc. Shared resources for periodic needs are provided at each district building and new/upgraded equipment can be made available during the next budget year if the use becomes frequent. Personal technology present in schools at the adoption of this policy will be assessed and inventoried.

The Athens Area School District recognizes the need to transport data between home and school. With this in mind the Technology Department provides the following concessions. Data CD-ROM and USB Flash media will be allowed for use by any student, faculty or Staff member, however USB Flash drives are recommended. These media devices MUST be made available for search upon request and are considered under the jurisdiction of all district policies and acceptable use guidelines while on site. The Athens Area School District is not responsible for the loss, theft or corruption of data on any personal media brought into the school district. Any transfer of licensed or copy-writed district data (that is not under control of the user involved) out of the school district on such media will be viewed as theft and treated appropriately.

The use of the districts Local Area Network, Wide Area Network and the Internet is a privilege, not a right, and inappropriate use will result in suspension or revocation of those privileges. The system administrator in conjunction with the building principal will deem what is inappropriate and his/her decision is final. Also, the system administrator may terminate the account and/or access privileges of any user with or without prior notice. The administration, faculty, and staff of Athens Area School District may request the system administrator to deny, revoke, or suspend specific user accounts.

Delegation of Responsibility

The district shall make every effort to ensure that this resource is used responsibly by the students, faculty, and staff. Administrators, teachers and staff have a professional responsibility to work together to help students develop the intellectual skills necessary to discriminate among information sources, to identify information appropriate to their age and developmental levels, and to evaluate and use the information to meet their educational goals.

Technology users have the responsibility to respect and protect the rights of every other user in the district and on the Internet.

The building administrator in conjunction with the districts Technology Department shall have the authority to determine what is inappropriate use.

P.L. 106-554

Sec. 1711,1721

The superintendent or designee shall be responsible for implementing technology and procedures to determine whether the district’s computers are being used for purposes prohibited by law or for accessing sexually explicit materials. The procedure shall include but not be limited to:

· Utilizing a technology protection measure that blocks or filters Internet access for minors and adults to certain visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, harmful to minors with respect to use by minors, or determined inappropriate for use by minors by the Board.

· Maintaining and securing a usage log.

· Monitoring online activities of minors.

Network Etiquette

Users are expected to abide by the generally accepted rules of network etiquette. These include (but are not limited to) the following:

· Be polite. Do not get abusive in your messages to others.

· Do not reveal your personal address or phone number, or the phone number or other contact information of other students or colleagues.

· Use appropriate language. Do not use vulgarities or any other inappropriate language. Foul language and illegal activities are strictly forbidden.

· Note that electronic mail (E-mail) is not considered to be private. The system administrator has access to all mail and all files in your personal storage space and may monitor such at any time to ensure appropriate use for educational or administrative purposes.

· Do not use the network in such a way that you would disrupt the use of the network by other users.

P.L. 106-554

Sec. 1732

The Board establishes that the following materials, in addition to those stated in law, are inappropriate for access by minors: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Inappropriate Use

The Athens Area School District board of education deems the following uses in addition to those stated in law as inappropriate on the campus network.

· Internet chatting (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc.), excepting use that is education-related and monitored by a Faculty member or use specifically related to the functions of the district.

· Game playing (unless pre-approved by the IT department and monitored by a faculty member)

· Online game playing (unless pre-approved by the IT department and monitored by a faculty member)

· Downloading executable files and/or programs.

· Unauthorized use of external e-mail sites (hotmail, yahoo mail).

· Installation of programs on District computers.

· Non-school related fund-raising

· Non-work or non-school related work

· Unapproved advertising of any kind

· Personal or private commercial or financial gain usage

· Political campaigning/lobbying

· Hate mail, discriminatory remarks, and offensive or inflammatory communication

· Inappropriate language or profanity

· Disruption of the work of other users

· Destruction, modification, abuse or unauthorized access to network hardware, software and files

· Unauthorized or illegal installation, distribution, reproduction, modification or use of copyrighted materials

· Quoting of personal communications in a public forum without the original author's prior consent

· Access to obscene or pornographic material or child pornography

· Access by students and minors to material that is harmful to minors or is deemed inappropriate for minors in accordance with Board policy.

· The use of ANY users account that is not the specific account of that user is strictly prohibited and may result in immediate and permanent suspension of your network privileges. This applies to ALL district users. Shared group accounts may be created for special situations.

· Hacking: attempting to break into the account of another user, either in the school or on any other computer system, will not be tolerated and may result in immediate and permanent suspension of your network privileges.

· Impersonation (the use of another user's ID and password with the intent of assuming their identity) will not be tolerated and may result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your network privileges.

· Malicious activities that include, but are not limited to Spamming, Vandalism, Ping Bombs, Profanity, Harassment, Spoofing, Clonebots, and unsolicited E-mail will not be tolerated and may result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your network privileges.

· Intentional viewing or downloading information which contains nudity, obscenity, or pornography will not be tolerated and may result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your network privileges.

· Saving and/or copying of copyrighted software, data, or any executable files on any system connected to the Athens Area School District's system will not be tolerated.

· The use of Audio-based media (CD’s MP3 players) for non-educational purposes is strictly prohibited. Any such devices connected to district computers may be confiscated.

P.L. 94-553

Sec. 107

Pol. 814

P.L. 106-554

Sec. 1732

Federal Regulations P.L. 94-553

Sec. 107

P.L. 106-554

Sec. 1711,1721, 1732

Copyright

The illegal use of copyright software by students and staff is prohibited. Any data uploaded to or downloaded from the network shall be subject to fair use guidelines.

Safety

To the greatest extent possible, users of the network will be protected from harassment and unwanted or unsolicited communication. Any network user who received threatening or unwelcome communication shall report such immediately to a teacher or administrator. Network users shall not reveal information to other users on the network, including chat rooms, e-mail, Internet, etc.

Any district computer/server utilized by students and staff shall be equipped with Internet blocking/filtering software.

Internet safety measures shall effectively address the following:

· Control of access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and World Wide Web.

· Safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications.

· Prevention of unauthorized online access by minors, including "hacking" and other unlawful activities.

· Unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors.

· Restriction of minor’s access to materials harmful to them.

Penalties and Consequences

If an Athens Area School District user violates any of these provisions, his or her account may be terminated and future access may be permanently denied. Further punishment for the violation of these provisions may include suspension or other punishment as determined by the Principal, Superintendent, or Board of Education. Offenses which violate federal, state or local laws will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in addition to loss of Internet privileges pending a formal School Board review.