Edmonds School District No. 15
Lynnwood, WA 98036-5789
7396-R1 - ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (NETWORKS AND INTERNET)
Adopted
4/5/96
6/4/02
1/10/06
6/20/06
Acceptable Use Procedures and Guidelines (for staff and students)
Violation of any of the conditions of use is cause for disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment or expulsion from school.
NETWORKS
I. General Use
A. All use of the systems must be in support of education and research or District approved extra curricular activities and consistent with the mission of the District. The District reserves the right to prioritize use and access to the system.
B. Diligent effort must be made to conserve system resources. For example, users should download large files needed for instruction outside of school hours whenever possible.
C. Nothing in these regulations is intended to preclude the supervised use of the system while under the direction of a teacher or other approved user acting in conformity with District policy and procedure.
D. From time to time, the District will make a determination on whether specific uses of the system are consistent with the regulations stated in this procedure. Under prescribed circumstances non student or staff use may be permitted, provided such individuals demonstrate that their use furthers the purpose and goals of the district. For security and administrative purposes the district reserves the right for authorized personnel to review system use and file content including, without limitation, the content of any email.
II. Prohibited Use
A. Any use of the system must be in conformity to state and federal law network provider policies and District policy. Use of the system for commercial solicitation is prohibited.
B. The system constitutes public facilities and may not be used to support or oppose political candidates or ballot measures.
C. Malicious use of the system to develop programs or institute practices that harass other users or gain unauthorized access to any entity on the system and/or damage the components of an entity on the network is prohibited.
D. Users are responsible for the appropriateness and content of material they store, transmit, or publish on the system. Hate mail, harassment, discriminatory remarks, or other antisocial behaviors are expressly prohibited.
E. Use of the system to access, store or distribute obscene, sexually explicit, or pornographic material is prohibited.
F. No use of the system shall serve to disrupt the operation of the system by others; system components, including hardware or software, shall not be destroyed, modified or abused in any way.
III. Security
A. System logins, passwords or accounts are to be used only by the authorized owner of the account for the authorized purpose. Users may not share their password with another person or leave an open file or session unattended or unsupervised. Account owners are ultimately responsible for all activity under their accounts.
B. Users shall not seek information on, obtain copies of, or modify files, other data, or passwords belonging to other users, or misrepresent other users on the system, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to any entity on the system.
C. Communications may not be encrypted so as to avoid security review.
D. Users should change passwords regularly and avoid easily guessed passwords.
E. The District reserves the right to remove a user account on the system to prevent unauthorized activity. The District's wide area network provider reserves the right to disconnect the District to prevent unauthorized activity.
IV. Copyright
The unauthorized installation, use, storage or distribution of copyrighted software or materials on District computers is prohibited. All users of the Network shall comply with current copyright laws.
INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION
I. General Use
Students will have access to the Internet unless their school has a signed Internet and Electronic Communication Exclusion form on file.
II. Personal Security
A. Students should never reveal personal information, such as complete names, addresses and telephone numbers and identifiable photos without permission from their teacher, a parent, or guardian. No staff member may disclose use, or disseminate personal identification information regarding minors other than for legitimate educational purposes without authorization.
B. Students are prohibited from making appointments, without parental permission, to meet people in person who they have contacted through the Internet, email, or other forms of electronic communication.
C. Students will notify their teacher or another adult whenever they come across information or messages they deem dangerous, inappropriate or that make them feel uncomfortable when they are on the Internet or when using email and other forms of electronic communications.
III. Filtering and Monitoring
A. Filtering services are now in use on all computers with access to the Internet. These filters are designed to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act and block or filter access to, among other things, visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors. When students are using the Internet under supervision of educational staff, materials which are obscene, sexually explicit, or pornographic will be filtered or blocked either by the filtering services or by the adults monitoring student use. Even when adults are using the Internet, materials which are obscene, sexually explicit, or pornographic will be filtered or blocked.
B. Educational staff will, to the best of their ability, monitor students' use of the Internet in school, and will take reasonable measures to prevent access by students to inappropriate material on the Internet and World Wide Web, and restrict their access to materials inappropriate for or harmful to minors.