File: IFAC
TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACCEPTABLE USE
(Acceptable Use Policy
and On-line Access Contract)
The Niagara Falls City School District strongly believes in the education value of electronic services and recognizes the potential of such to support our curriculum and student learning in the district.
In
Order to promote educational excellence through facilitating resource sharing,
innovation and communication:
1. The Board of Education will provide On-Line Services to students and staff.
2. The Board of Education will provide students and staff with network training of On-Line Services.
3. The Board of Education will establish and enforce practices and procedures for use of On-Line Services.
4. The Board of Education will make clear to parents, students, and staff, the shared responsibility as to proper behavior and use of the network.
5. The Board of Education will make every effort to protect students and teachers from any misuse or abuse as a result of their experiences with On-Line Services.
Adopted: April 11, 1996
Niagara Falls City School District, Niagara Falls, NY
File: IFAC-R
Niagara Falls City School District
Acceptable
Use Policy and On-line
Access Contract
Acceptable Use Policy
Niagara Falls' acceptable use policy
consists of the following four (4) areas:
· US laws
· Security
To use Niagara Falls
computer facilities and on-line services, you must agree to
follow these
guidelines. They apply to all users, not just faculty and students.
Laws
1.
Copy right
Violations
·
Software piracy is the
illegal duplication or distributing of commercial software
·
Plagiarism means using
others’ ideas as your own
2.
Libel Laws
·
Publicly defaming
people is illegal, especially when what is said is either untrue or
unsubstantiated
3.
Hacking means breaking, entering, and/or tampering with a
computer system without permission of the owner. This is considered
illegal activity.
Computer administrators are required and morally
obligated to investigate any suspicious activities occurring on school
computers and on-line services. This policy will be upheld because the
Niagara Falls City School District does not wish to be an accessory in illegal
or immoral activities.
The district provides access
for students and staff to the Internet as an educational tool. Because
the Internet is uncensored and can be misused, no student shall be allowed to
use the district's access to the Internet unless the student and the student's
parent/guardian first sign the district's Acceptable Use Agreement. The
district will provide reasonable supervision of students using its access to
the Internet and attempt to do what is technologically reasonable with
filtering software to prevent students from obtaining access to pornographic or
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IFAC-R
Harmful matter.
Students using the district's Internet access shall have no right of
privacy in their use of that system. Staff may monitor or examine all
system activities a student takes part in to ensure proper use of the system.
Students who fail to abide by district Internet rules may be subject to
disciplinary action, revocation of their privilege to use the system, or legal
action as appropriate.
No individual may use an Internet account
or Internet access from District property other than access provided through
the District's Net Access. The purpose of this requirement is to
guarantee that any access to the Internet obtained from District property is
appropriately filtered to eliminate as reasonably possible harmful and
pornographic material.
On-line
etiquette (Netiquette)
On-line
etiquette has to do with how to treat others who are letting you use their
computer resources.
1. Only use another computer when it is convenient for
the owner. Respect hours that
they post for people to use.
2.
Respect others'
resources
·
No spamming, which is sending loads of messages to an individual
that are either harassing or designed to overload the system, will be
tolerated.
3.
Be thrifty by respecting the following guidelines:
·
Keep your e-mail
signature short (no more than four lines). Your signature is a file
appended to the end of all messages you send out over e-mail or news groups.
·
Keep your quotes of
other people short (no more than five lines). Keep your messages short
and to the point.
·
Respect all other
people. This is important at all times when using the school's
resources! Offensive language is not tolerated. This includes
the personal e-mail you send.
·
Be polite and use
appropriate language. Remember that using all capital letters is viewed
as shouting at someone.
4. Offensive or sexually explicit material shall not be displayed or collected using any of the Niagara Falls' resources. This includes our computers, our bulletin board, and our Internet access.
5.
Forwarding a message
written by someone else needs to
meet the following two conditions:
·
You have the author's
permission to send the quote on to other people.
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·
You need to credit the
original author. No plagiarism allowed, even of friends.
·
Never assume that your
e-mail can be read by no one except yourself; others may be able to read or
access your mail. Never send or print anything that you would not mind
seeing in the daily newspaper. Messages relating to or in support of illegal
activities must be reported to an administrator.
Note: Some of these guidelines can be seen as a
limitation of free speech. Remember, you are using the school's resources
and almost everything you do will be identifiable as having been done by
someone in this school district. If you feel that you need electronic
freedom of speech, then you need to create and pay for your own e-mail
service. When you are using the school's equipment and/or resources, you
are an ambassador for the school. This is important to remember.
Warning:
The Niagara Falls School and Information Systems administrator will investigate
and monitor accounts if there are complaints or reasons to believe that
netiquette is not being observed.
Safety
Guidelines
Guidelines for Publication of Student Work on the Net
The District is obligated to protect the privacy of its students
from outsiders. Therefore, when District employees publish student work
through use of the District Net Access, the following guidelines shall be
followed:
1. Students shall be identified by
first name or initials only. No personally identifiable information about
students shall be published.
2. Pictures of students shall not
provide information identifying any student.
3. Student phone numbers, home
addresses, and e-mail addresses shall not be published.
4. The only address, phone number,
or e-mail address, which may be published, is that of the school in care of the
sponsoring teacher or the teacher's e-mail address at school.
5. If personally identifiable
information is to be released concerning a particular student, it will only be
released after the parent signs a consent form
to allow the release.
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·
Do not give out your
home address or phone number or those of your friends.
·
If you must give a fax
number or address to receive something, please use your school's fax or address.
·
It is reasonably easy
for dishonest people to take on another person’s identity electronically.
Please use caution. Consider people you meet on-line as strangers.
Security
Niagara
Falls' security measures are to keep you from accidentally changing
settings. Consistency and reliability are paramount for the computer
system. Therefore, the following guidelines are set forth to help you
understand our security concerns:
·
Masquerading (pretending to be someone else) is forbidden. This
includes sending out e-mail in someone else's name as a joke.
·
Hacking (attempting to break into or go around any of our
security measures) is considered a major violation of school
rules. This includes servers, workstations, networks and other people's
resources.
·
Passwords should be
guarded. Don't give them out
and keep good passwords that you can remember, but that others can't guess.
·
Encrypting files (securing data so no one else can read it) by any
means is expressly prohibited.
·
Use of another
person's account, with or without their express permission, will result in the
suspension of privileges and
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cancellation of that account.
On-line
Access Contract
We are pleased to make an electronic bulletin board
and Internet access available to students and staff in our District. The
Niagara Falls City School District strongly believes in the educational value
of such electronic services and recognizes the potential of such to support our
curriculum and student learning. Our goal in providing this service is to
promote educational excellence by facilitating resource sharing, innovation,
and communication. The Niagara Falls City School District will make every
effort to protect students and teachers from misuse or abuse as a result of their
experience with on-line services. All users must be continuously on
guard to avoid inappropriate and illegal interaction through use of on-line
services.
Please
read this document carefully. When signed by you (staff) or you and your
parent/guardian (student), it becomes a legally binding contract. We must
have your signatures before we can provide you with an access account.
Listed
below are the provisions of this contract. If any user violates these
provisions, access to the on-line services may be denied and he/she may be
subject to disciplinary action.
Terms
and Conditions of this Contract
1. Personal
Responsibility
As a representative of
this school system, students and staff will accept personal responsibility for
reporting any misuse of the bulletin board or local area networks to the
Information Services administrator. Misuse can come in many forms, but it
is commonly viewed as any message(s) sent or received that indicates or
suggests pornography, unethical or illegal solicitation, sexism, inappropriate
language, and other issues described below. All the rules of conduct
described in the District student and teacher handbooks apply when you are
on-line. Violation of school district policies may carry additional
penalties over and above the loss of computer access privileges.
2. Acceptable Use
The use of an assigned
account must be in support of education and research and with the educational
goals and objectives of the Niagara Falls City School District. The user
is personally responsible for these provisions at all times when using on-line
services:
a. Use of other
organizations' networks or computing resources must comply with rules
appropriate to that network
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b. Transmission of any
material in violation of any United States or other State laws is
prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, copyrighted material,
threatening or obscene material, or material protected by trade secret
c. Use for commercial
activities is not acceptable.
d. Use of product advertisement
or political lobbying is also prohibited.
The inappropriate use of
on-line services can be a violation of local, state, and federal laws and users
can be prosecuted for violating those laws.
3. Privileges
The use of on-line
services is a privilege, not a right, and inappropriate use will result in a
cancellation of those privileges. Each person who receives an account
will participate in an orientation or training course with a member of the
Information Services Department as to proper behavior and use of the
network. The Niagara Falls City School District bulletin board system
administrator (operating under the direction of the Board of Education, the
District Superintendent's Office and the Information Services Administrator)
will decide what is appropriate use and their decision is final. The
bulletin board system administrator may close an account at any time as deemed
necessary. The administration, staff, or faculty of the Niagara Falls
City School District may request that the bulletin board system administrator
deny, revoke, or suspend specific user accounts.
4. Services
The Niagara Falls City
School District makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied,
for the services it is providing. The Niagara Falls City School District
will not be responsible for any damages suffered while using on-line
services. These damages include loss of data as a result of delays,
non-deliveries, misdeliveries, or service interruptions caused by the on-line
services or your errors or omissions. Use of any information obtained via
the on-line services is at your own risk. The Niagara Falls City School
District specifically disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy of
information obtained through on-line services.
5. Security
Security on any computer
system is a high priority because there are so many users. If you
identify a security problem, notify the bulletin board administrator at
once. Never demonstrate the problem to other users. Never use
another individual's account. All use of on-line services must be under
your own account. Any user identified as a security risk will be denied
access to the on-line services.
6. Vandalism
Vandalism is defined
as any malicious attempt to harm or destroy data of another
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File: IFAC-R
user or any other
agencies or networks that are connected to the electronic bulletin board or any
other on-line service. This includes, but is not limited to, the
uploading or creation of computer viruses. Any vandalism will result in
the loss of computer services, disciplinary action, and legal referral.
Disciplinary Action Related To Misuse of the Net
Student or staff failure to abide by the Acceptable Use Policy may result in disciplinary action following
disciplinary procedures established in the district with the following
qualifications:
1. Student misuse of the system is
defined in the Acceptable Use Policy The definitions therein are not
exclusive. If a student is clever enough to invent a new way of misusing
the system, and it is reasonable that the student would know what he/she is
doing is improper, the student may nonetheless be disciplined.
2. Student use of the district's net
system is a privilege granted to students by the district, not a legal right.
Since it is a privilege, the district may restrict any student's use of
its net system if the student abuses that privilege.
. "Misuse of the District's
access to the Internet for staff/students" includes, but is not limited
to, the following:
(a) use
of the district's access to the Net for other than educational purposes;
(b)
gaining intentional access or maintaining access to materials which are
obscene, pornographic, or whose dominant appeal is sexual arousal;
(c)
using the Net for any illegal activity, including computer hacking and
copyright or intellectual property law violations;
(d) accessing "chat lines" unless authorized by the
instructor for a class activity directly supervised by a staff member;
(e) using
abusive or profane language in private messages on the system; or using the
system to harass, insult, or verbally attack others;
(f)
posting anonymous messages on the system;
File: IFAC-R
(g) using
encryption software;
(h)
wasteful use of limited resources provided by the district;
(i)
causing congestion of the network through lengthy downloads of files, or by
engaging in idle activities;
(j) vandalizing data of another user;
(k)
obtaining or sending information which could be used to make destructive devices such
as guns, weapons, bombs, explosives, or fireworks;
(l)
gaining unauthorized access to resources or files;
(m)
identifying oneself with another person's name or password or using an account
or password of another user without proper authorization;
(n) using
the network for financial or commercial gain;
(o) theft
or vandalism of data, equipment, or intellectual property;
(p)
invading the privacy of individuals;
(q)
attempting to gain access to or gaining access to student records, grades, or
files;
(r) introducing a virus to, or otherwise improperly tampering with
the system;
(s)
degrading or disrupting equipment or system performance;
(t)
creating a web page or associating a web page with the school or school
district without proper authorization;
(u)
providing access to the District Net Access to unauthorized individuals;
(v)
failing to obey school or classroom Net use rules; or
(w)
taking part in any activity related to Net use which creates a clear and
present danger of the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of
the district or any of its schools.
EMPLOYEE USE OF THE INTERNET
Before any staff member uses the district's Internet or intranet
access, that staff member must agree to abide by the terms and conditions of
the staff net use agreement, which will be promulgated by the Superintendent or
designee. If a staff member fails to sign the staff net agreement, and
uses the district access to the
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intranet or Internet, that staff member is nonetheless bound by the
terms and
conditions of the staff net use agreement and may be subject to
discipline for failing to follow those terms and conditions. In
situations where the staff member does not sign the staff net use agreement,
that staff member is nonetheless put on notice of the terms and condition of
that agreement by this board policy and the administrative regulations which
accompany it.
Employees of the district shall not have their own Internet access
from any district property. All employee Internet access obtained from
school property must be through the district's access to the Internet.
Supervision of Student Access to the Internet
Staff shall provide reasonable supervision under the circumstances
for students who are using on-line services and may ask teacher assistants and
student associates to assist in such supervision. The purpose of such
supervision shall be instructional as well as to prevent students from
"misuse of the District's Net Access to the Internet" as that phrase
is defined in the Student Net Use Agreement.
In providing such
supervision, staff may ask teacher assistants and student associates to assist
in such supervision. Students who fail to abide by regulations promulgated
by the Superintendent or designee, or who fail to abide by the Student Net Use
Agreement or school rules regarding net use, shall be subjected to disciplinary
action, revocation of the user account, and legal or criminal action as
appropriate.
District employees
and students shall not use the District access to the Internet (including
e-mail), nor shall they use any District created or District related web site
to advertise any private commercial ventures in which they have a financial or
proprietary interest, or in which members of their families have financial or
proprietary interests
Adopted: April 11. 1996
Revised: December 20, 2001
Niagara
Falls City School District, Niagara Falls, NY
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