EFA, Computer and Internet Acceptable Use for Employees

FILE: EFA

COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCEPTABLE USE FOR EMPLOYEES

The Zachary Community School Board shall authorize the Superintendent and staff to establish appropriate guidelines for exploring and using Internet resources within the school district to enhance learning and teaching activities. Acceptable use of these resources shall be consistent with the philosophy, goals, and objectives of the Zachary Community School Board. Any employee who wishes to use school district computers, including the Internet and/or e-mail services, must sign the Zachary Community Employee Computer and Internet Use Agreement agreeing to abide by all district regulations.

The School Board shall incorporate the use of computer-related technology or the use of Internet service provider technology designed to block access or exposure to any harmful materials or information, such as sites that contain obscene, pornographic, pervasively vulgar, excessively violent, or sexually harassing information or material. Sites which contain information on the manufacturing of bombs or other incendiary devices shall also be prohibited. However, the School Board does not prohibit authorized employees or students from having unfiltered or unrestricted access to Internet or online services, including online services of newspapers with daily circulation of at least 1,000, for legitimate scientific or educational purposes approved by the School Board.

INTERNET USAGE

Any use of the Internet that adversely affects its operation in pursuit of teaching and learning or jeopardizes its use or performance for other community members is prohibited and may result in loss of Internet privileges, suspension or other appropriate disciplinary action. The provisions of this policy shall also apply to the use of private e-mail accounts when access is attained using School Board equipment or networks and to access attained through any authorized personal digital device while on School Board property. The School Board does not condone the use of the Internet for any illegal or inappropriate activities and shall not be responsible for any such use by staff or students.

The School Board may suspend or terminate any privilege to use the Internet at any time solely at the School Board's discretion. Any policies and/or regulations of the School Board defining use of the Internet serve as guidelines but do not warrant or guarantee access to or use of the Internet. Consequently, the School Board may, at any time and in its sole discretion, end the privilege of any individual to use the Internet without notice, cause, or reason.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Faculty and staff use of school computers or the Internet shall be reserved for academic purposes and the conducting of business aspects of the school system. All personnel using a school computer or a computer network located on school property, or computers accessing the Internet shall be accountable for its use. Teacher or class files on the network shall be treated as district property subject to control and inspection by School Board personnel. Access codes or passwords shall be kept on file in a secured location by the principal or his/her designee in case an inspection is warranted. Use of the Internet and/or any computers shall be considered a privilege and any inappropriate use may result in appropriate disciplinary action and loss of privileges to use district computers or the Internet.

UNAUTHORIZED AND ILLEGAL USE

Faculty and staff shall not be under direct supervision but must abide by School Board policy. Tampering with selection menus, procedures, or icons for the purpose of misleading or confusing other users shall be prohibited. Any use by any person of the district's internal network that incurs expenses to the school other than the monthly user fees and rates shall be strictly prohibited. Furthermore, the computer system shall not be used for commercial, political or religious purposes.

Use of the network for any illegal activities shall also be prohibited. Illegal activities include (a) tampering with computer hardware or software, (b) unauthorized entry into computers and files (hacking), (c) knowledgeable vandalism or destruction of equipment, and (d) deletion of computer files. Such activity is considered a crime under state and federal law.

Zachary Community School Board computers will be installed and maintained ONLY by authorized staff. Only school level support personnel (SYSOP) at each site in conjunction with the District technology department shall be allowed to authorize installation or maintenance of either hardware or software on Zachary Community School Board computers.

The District has an obligation to ensure that software on its computers is being used legally according to that softwares license and to ensure that any software installed do not create difficulties on the individual computer or on the District network. Staff members who wish to have software installed must certify that they are using the software according to license and must register the license information with the designated administrator at each site.

Multiple installations of the same license number will be assumed to violate copyright unless a multiple license provision can be demonstrated.

Software not related to the mission of the Zachary Community School District will not be installed on District equipment.

Migrating to an upgraded computer does not carry with it the right to migrate software to that computer unless that software is wiped clean from the original computer.

District technical staff has the capacity to survey individual computers through the network, will remove programs not authorized for installation, and will report the incident to the appropriate site and district administration.

No images, sounds, or media of any sort may be added to Zachary Community School District equipment or to materials produced through Zachary Community School District Equipment that violate copyright.

SECURITY

Teachers and personnel who have computers in their charge shall be responsible for their security. Computers must be secured such that students acting without the consent or supervision of a teacher or administrator cannot enter the system or the Internet.

REGULATIONS FOR COMPUTER USE

The user shall abide by such laws, policies, regulations, and procedures concerning technology use in the Zachary Community Schools.

Staff must use assigned accounts in support of the educational goals and objectives of the District. Staff shall not allow the use of assigned accounts by others. Staff must:

•	Not use the network, e-mail system or Internet connection for personal financial gain including commercial advertising.
•	Not use the network, e-mail system, or Internet connection for political or religious advocacy or on behalf of charitable organizations.
•	Not send any message through the network, e-mail system or Internet connection under another person's name.
•	Not transmit, request, or receive materials inconsistent with the mission and values of the Zachary Community School District.
•	Not attempt to breach network security or transmit viruses.
•	Not use the network, e-mail system, or Internet connection for sexual or other forms of harassment

Staff must use language appropriate for a public system in all communications.

Staff must respect the copyright and/or software licensing of material received through the Zachary Community School District network, e-mail system, or Internet connection.

Staff must understand that there is no presumption of privacy for communications stored, sent, received, or accessed through Zachary Community School District computers, networks, e-mail system, and Internet connection and that any such material may be monitored or spot-checked to ensure compliance with District policies.

Staff must understand that as a matter of law any document pertaining to the public business on a publicly funded system is a public record.

SANCTIONS

Individuals who violate the terms of the Computer and Internet Acceptable Use for Employees policy shall be subject to a series of sanctions through the Technology Department, including the installation of restrictive lock-down security on their classroom workstation and restriction or revocation of District network, Internet, and/or e-mail privileges.

Additionally, sanctions may be applied by the Zachary Community School District Personnel Department in accordance with established discipline policies.

The Zachary Community School District extends to staff the opportunity to post web pages in support of District goals and objectives. Such pages must be consistent with Zachary Community School District web publishing policies.

Web Publishing And E-Mail

The Zachary Community School District web site is not a public forum. Posting permissions and posted content is maintained at the discretion of District and site administration.

Staff posting to the District web server will abide by Zachary Community School Board Computer and Internet Acceptable Use for Employees policy. Employees shall not:

•	Use the web site for personal financial gain
•	Use the web site for any fundraising without prior written administrative approval
•	Use the web site for political advertising or issue advocacy
•	Use the web site for transmitting or requesting and receiving materials inconsistent with the mission and values of the Zachary Community School District
•	Use the web site for attempts to breach network security or transmit viruses
•	Post copyrighted images, text, sound files, or software to the website without filing with site administration written permission from the holder of the copyright
•	Post any material, text or image, allowing the identification of any individual student without prior written consent from parents via the Parental Permission to Publish form.
•	Post any student addresses or telephone numbers at anytime

Note: personal e-mail addresses (HotMail, AOL, YahooMail, etc.) should not be used on District web sites. The District provides e-mail addresses to students, and staff. This facilitates tracing harassing or inappropriate e-mail directed to the school.

Staff shall post language and materials appropriate for Zachary Community School Board communications.

The Zachary Community School Board web site is not a forum for student expression. Staff, in accordance with administrative guidelines established at each site, will take responsibility for posting any student-generated material to the District site.

Staff shall not link to non-district sites that are framed or formatted in such a way as to appear to be part of the District site.

All sites linked directly to the Zachary Community School Board web site shall be consistent with the standards of the Zachary Community School District and shall support and be consistent with the educational mission of the District. Staff shall not link to personal home pages, will not use the District site for personal web pages, and shall not use the District site for links that exist only to illustrate personal interests.

No guest books or response forms which allow immediate, unmediated posting by the public shall be hosted on the Zachary Community School Board web site or linked to from that site.

Zachary Community School District staff shall use Zachary Community School District e-mail addresses to conduct Zachary Community School business. Staff shall not distribute their personal, non-Zachary Community School District e-mail addresses to parents, students, or others for contact related to their Zachary Community School District responsibilities.

Ref: 20 USC 7131 (Internet Safety)

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:100.7

Board minutes, 8-12-04

Zachary Community School Board