Regulation Glen
Ridge Board of Education
R 2361 Acceptable Use
of Computer Network/Computers and Resources
The
school district provides computer equipment, computer services, and Internet
access to its pupils and staff for educational purposes only. The purpose of providing technology resources
is to improve learning and teaching through research, teacher training,
collaboration, dissemination and the use of global communication
resources. The “system administrators”
referred to herein as employees of the school district who administer the
school district computer network/computers and the system administrators
reserve the right to monitor all activity on network/computer
facilities/computers.
Because
of the complex association between so many government agencies and computer
networks/computers, the end user of these computer networks/computers must
adhere to strict regulations.
Regulations are provided here so that staff, community, and pupil users
and the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of pupils are aware of their
responsibilities. The school district
may modify these regulations at any time by publishing modified regulations on
the network and elsewhere. The
signatures of the pupil and his/her parent(s) or legal guardian(s) on the
district-approved consent and waiver agreement are legally binding and indicate
that the parties have read the terms and conditions carefully, understand their
significance, and agree to abide by the rules established under Policy and
Regulation No. 2361.
Pupils
are responsible for good behavior on computer networks/computers just as they
are in a classroom or a school hallway.
Communications on the computer network/computers are often public in
nature. Policies and Regulations
governing behavior and communications apply. The school district’s networks,
Internet access and computers are provided for pupils to conduct research and
communicate with others. Access to
computer network services/computers is given to pupils who agree to act in a
considerate and responsible manner.
Parent permission is required.
Access is a privilege—not a right.
Access entails responsibility.
Individual users of the district computer network/computers are
responsible for their behavior and communications over the computer
network/computers. It is presumed that
users will comply with district standards and will honor the agreements they
have signed. Beyond the clarification of
such standards, the district is not responsible for the actions of individuals
utilizing the computer network/computers who violate the policies and
regulations of the Board.
Computer
network/computer storage areas shall be treated in the same manner as other
school storage facilities. Computer
network/computer administrators may review files and communications to maintain
system integrity and ensure that users are using the system responsibly. Users should not expect that files stored on
district servers will always be private.
Within
reason, freedom of speech and access to information will be honored. During school, teachers of younger pupils
will guide them toward appropriate materials.
Outside of school, families bear the same responsibility for such
guidance as they exercise with information sources such as television,
telephones, movies, radio and other potentially offensive media. As outlined in Board policy and procedures on
pupil rights and responsibilities, copies of these are available in school
offices. Behavior including but not limited to the following are prohibited:
1. Sending
or displaying offensive messages or pictures;
2. Using
obscene language and/or accessing visual depictions that are
obscene as defined in section 1460 of Title 18, United States Code;
3. Using
or accessing visual depictions that are child pornography, as defined in
section 2256 of Title 18, United States Code;
4. Using
or accessing visual depictions that are harmful to minors including any
pictures, images, graphic image file or other visual depiction that taken as a
whole and with respect to minors, appeals to a prurient interest in nudity,
sex, or excretion; or
5. Depicts,
describes, or represents in a patently offensive way, with respect to what is
suitable for minors, sexual acts or conduct; or taken as a whole, lacks serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as to minors.
6. Harassing,
insulting or attacking others;
7. Damaging
computers, computer systems or computer network/ computers;
8. Violating
copyright laws;
9. Using
another's password;
10 Trespassing
in another’s folders, work or files;
11.
Intentionally wasting limited resources;
12.
Employing the computer network/computers for commercial purposes; and/or
13.
Engaging in other activities that do not advance the educational purposes for
which computer network/computers are provided.
Internet
Safety
Compliance
with Children’s Internet Protection Act
The
school district has technology protection measures for all computers in the
school district, including computers in media centers/libraries, that block
and/or filter visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography and harmful
to minors as defined in 2,3, and 4 above and in the Children’s Internet
Protection Act. The school district will
certify the schools in the district, including media centers/libraries are in
compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act and the district
enforces Policy 2361.
Compliance
with Neighborhood Children’s Internet Protection Act
Policy
2361 and this Regulation establishes an Internet
safety policy and procedures to address:
1. Access
by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and World Wide Web;
2. The
safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other
forms of direct electronic communications;
3. Unauthorized
access, including “hacking” and other unlawful activities by minors online;
4. Unauthorized
disclosures, use, and dissemination of personal identification information
regarding minors; and
5. Measures
designed to restrict minors’ access to materials harmful to minors.
Notwithstanding
the visual depictions defined in the Children’s Internet Protection Act and as
defined in 2, 3, and 4 above, the Board shall determine Internet material that
is inappropriate for minors. The Board
will provide reasonable public notice and will hold one annual public hearing
during a regular monthly Board meeting or during a designated special Board
meeting to address and receive public community input on the Internet safety
policy - Policy and Regulation 2361.
Information
Content and Uses of the System
Users
agree not to publish on or over the system any information which violates or
infringes upon the rights of any other person or any information which would be
abusive, profane or sexually offensive to an average person, or which, without
the approval of the system administrators, contains any advertising or any
solicitation of other members to use goods or services. The user agrees not to use the facilities and
capabilities of the system to conduct any business or solicit the performance
of any activity, which is prohibited by law.
Because
the school district provides, through connection to the Internet, access to
other computer systems around the world, pupils and their parent(s) or legal
guardian(s) understand that the Board and system administrators have no control
over content. While most of the content
available on the Internet is innocuous and much of it a valuable educational
resource, some objectionable material exists.
The Board will provide pupil access to Internet resources only in
supervised environments and has taken steps to lock out objectionable areas to
the extent possible, but potential dangers remain. Pupils and their parent(s) or legal
guardian(s) are advised that some systems may contain defamatory, inaccurate,
abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive,
or otherwise illegal material. The Board
and the system administrators do not condone the use of such materials and do
not permit usage of such materials in the school environment. Parent(s) or legal
guardian(s) having accounts on the system should be aware of the existence of
such materials and monitor home usage of the school district computer
network. Pupils knowingly bringing such
materials into the school environment will be disciplined in accordance with
Board policies and regulations and such activities may result in termination of
such pupils' accounts on the computer network and their independent use of
computers.
On-line
Conduct
Any
action by a pupil or other user of the school district’s computer
network/computers that is determined by a system administrator to constitute an
inappropriate use of computer network/computers resources or to improperly
restrict or inhibit other members from using and enjoying those resources is
strictly prohibited and may result in limitation on or termination of an
offending member's account and other action in compliance with the Board policy
and regulation. The user specifically
agrees not to submit, publish, or display any defamatory, inaccurate, abusive,
obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive, or
otherwise illegal material; nor shall a user encourage the use, sale, or
distribution of controlled substances.
Transmission of material, information or software in violation of any
local, state or federal law is also prohibited and is a breach of the Consent
and Waiver Agreement.
Users
and their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) specifically agree to indemnify the
Computer
network/computer resources are to be used by the user for his/her educational
use only; commercial uses are strictly prohibited.
Software
Libraries on the Network
Software
libraries on the network are provided to pupils as an educational
resource. No pupil may install, upload,
or download software without the expressed consent of the system administrator. Any software having the purpose of damaging
other members' accounts on the school district computer network/computers
(e.g., computer viruses) is specifically prohibited. The system administrators, at their sole
discretion, reserve the rights to refuse posting of files and to remove
files. The system administrators, at
their sole discretion, further reserve the right to immediately limit usage or
terminate the account or take other action consistent with the Board’s policies
and regulations of a member who misuses the software libraries.
Copyrighted
Material
Copyrighted
material must not be placed on any system connected to the computer
network/computers without the author's specific written permission. Only the owner(s) or persons they specifically
authorize may upload copyrighted material to the system. Members may download copyrighted material for
their own use in accordance with Policy and Regulation Nos. 2531, Copying
Copyrighted Materials. Any member may
also non-commercially redistribute a copyrighted program with the expressed
written permission of the owner or authorized person. Permission must be specified in the document,
on the system, or must be obtained directly from the author.
Public
Posting Areas (Message Boards/Usenet Groups)
Usenet
messages are posted from systems connected to the Internet around the world and
the school district system administrators have no control of the content of
messages posted from these other systems.
To best utilize system resources, the system administrators will
determine which Usenet groups are most applicable to the educational needs of
the school district and will carry these groups on the school district computer
network. The system administrators, at
their sole discretion, may remove messages posted locally that are deemed to be
unacceptable or in violation of the Board policies and regulations. The system administrators, at their sole
discretion, further reserve the right to immediately terminate the account of a
member who misuses the message boards or Usenet groups.
Real-time,
Interactive, Communication Areas
The
system administrators, at their sole discretion, reserve the right to monitor
and immediately limit the use of the computer network/computers or terminate
the account of a member who misuses real-time conference features
(talk/chat/Internet relay chat).
Electronic
Mail
Electronic
mail (“E-mail”) is an electronic message sent by or to a member in
correspondence with another person having Internet mail access. All messages sent and received on the school
district computer network must have an educational purpose and are subject to
review. Messages received by the system
are retained on the system until deleted by the recipient or for a maximum of
fifteen days. A canceled account will
not retain its E-mail. Members are
expected to remove old messages within fifteen days or the system
administrators may remove such messages.
The system administrators may inspect the contents of E-mail sent by one
member to an addressee, or disclose such contents to other than the sender or a
recipient when required to do so by the Board policy, regulation or other laws
and regulations of the State and Federal governments. The Board reserves the right to cooperate
fully with local, state, or federal officials in any investigation concerning
or relating to any E-mail transmitted on the school district computer
network/computers.
Disk
Usage
The
system administrators reserve the right to set quotas for disk usage on the
system. A member who exceeds his/her
quota of disk space will be advised to delete files to return to compliance
with predetermined quotas. A member who
remains in noncompliance of disk space quotas after seven school days of
notification will have their files removed by a system administrator.
Security
Security
on any computer system is a high priority, especially when the system involves
many users. If a member feels that
he/she can identify a security problem on the computer network, the member must
notify a system administrator. The
member should not inform individuals other than the system administrators or
other designated members of the school district staff of a security
problem. Professional staff may allow
individuals who are not members to access the system through the staff personal
account as long as the staff person does not disclose the password of the
account to the individuals and understands that the staff person assumes
responsibility for the actions of individuals using his/her account. Members may not otherwise allow others to use
their account and password. Passwords to
the system should not be easily guessable by others, nor should they be words,
which could be found in a dictionary.
Attempts to log in to the system using either another member's account
or as a system administrator will result in termination of the account. Members should immediately notify a system
administrator if a password is lost or stolen, or if they have reason to
believe that someone has obtained unauthorized access to their account. Any
member identified as a security risk will have limitations placed on usage of
the computer network/computers or may be terminated as a user and be subject to
other disciplinary action.
Vandalism
Vandalism
will result in cancellation of system privileges and other disciplinary
measures in compliance with the District's discipline code. Vandalism is defined as any malicious attempt
to harm or destroy data of another user, the system, or any of the agencies or
other computer network/computers that are connected to the Internet backbone or
of doing intentional damage to hardware or software on the system. This includes, but is not limited to, the
uploading or creation of computer viruses.
Printing
The
printing facilities of the computer network/computers should be used
judiciously. Printing for other than
educational purposes is prohibited.
Internet
Sites and the World Wide Web
The
Director of Technology may establish an Internet site(s) on the World Wide Web
or other Internet locations. Such sites
shall be administered and supervised by the Director of Technology, who shall
ensure that the content of the site complies with federal, state and local laws
and regulations as well as Board policies and regulations.
Violations
Violations
of the Acceptable Use of Computer Network/Computers and Resources may result in
a loss of access as well as other disciplinary or legal action. Disciplinary action shall be taken as
indicated in Policy and Regulation Nos. 2361, Acceptable Use of Computer Network/Computers
and Resources, No. 5600, Pupil Discipline, No. 5610, Suspension and No. 5620,
Expulsion as well as possible legal action and reports to the legal authorities
and entities.
Determination
of Consequences for Violations
The
particular consequences for violations of this policy shall be determined by
the Director of Technology in matters relating to the use of computer
networks/computers and by the Principal in matters of school suspension. The Superintendent or designee and the Board
shall determine when school expulsion and/or legal action or actions by the
authorities are the appropriate course of action.
Individuals
violating this policy shall be subject to the consequences as indicated in
Regulation No. 2361 and other appropriate discipline, which includes but is not
limited to:
1. Use
of Computer Network/Computers only under direct supervision;
2. Suspension
of network privileges;
3. Revocation
of network privileges;
4. Suspension
of computer privileges;
5. Revocation
of computer privileges;
6. Suspension
from school;
7. Expulsion
from school; and/or
8. Legal
action and prosecution by the authorities.
Decisions
of the Director of Technology may be appealed in accordance with Policy No.
5710 Pupil Grievances.
Issued: