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UTICA CITY
SCHOOL DISTRICT
COMPUTER NETWORK
ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
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PURPOSE
The purpose of the Utica City School District Computer
Network is to provide shared educational resources with its member schools and
with regional districts. The resources
are intended to enhance the collaboration and exchange of information between
and among schools, school offices, and other State and educational entities.
MISSION
The Utica City School District Computer Network is committed
to the use of technology to support district school improvement initiatives in
the context of the NYS Long Range Plan for the Use of Technology in
Elementary and Second Education and the New York State
Learning Standards.
RATIONALE
The rationale for establishing the Utica City School District
Local and Wide Area Computer Networks, and Internet access Network is to
provide a mechanism that will advance and promote education in all of its
school buildings. The Network is
intended to facilitate the collaboration and exchange of information among all
who are concerned and involved with education.
The integration of networking technology into daily operations of your
classrooms, libraries, and offices is intended to promote the development of
high-quality technological resources in an effective, efficient, and economical
manner.
GUIDELINES
It is imperative that staff, students, and visitors conduct
themselves in a responsible, and legal manner while using District equipment
and networks. This policy provides
general guidelines for use by its users.
Final determination of acceptable behavior rests with the
Superintendent. The following factors
define District policy for Computer Network and Internet access:
A. Any
use of District equipment or computer networks for inappropriate, illegal, obscene,
or sexually exploitive purposes is prohibited.
Illegal activities are defined as any violation of local, State and
Federal laws as well as any violation of the District’s established rules and
regulations governing appropriate behavior.
Inappropriate use is defined as any violation of the intended purpose to
which the network access account was issued.
Obscene activities are defined as any violation of generally accepted
social standards for use of publicly operated communication medium, which is accessible,
by children and underage adults;
B. Any
use of the District’s equipment for commercial purposes, or individual profit
is prohibited;
C. Any
use of the District’s equipment for partisan political activity is prohibited;
D. Any
use of the District’s equipment that is intended to disrupt use by other users,
deny intended services, or invade the privacy of others is prohibited;
E. The
District’s network accounts shall be used only by authorized students and staff
as approved by the building principal/district administrators. Users are solely responsible for all activity
that occurs while logged in under their operating or individual accounts. This includes, but is not limited, to unauthorized
long distance telephone charges, surcharges, and/or equipment or line charges,
and assumption of liability or damages caused by misuse of the equipment,
software or network systems;
F. It
is expected that all users will prudently use the District’s resources and
prevent waste wherever possible. Users
may not intentionally write, produce, generate, copy , propagate, or attempt to
introduce any computer code designed to self replicate (e.g., computer virus),
damage or otherwise hinder the performance of any computer’s memory, file
system, or software;
G. Users
may not intentionally tamper with networks, terminals, printers, wiring, etc.,
or attach unauthorized devices or equipment to the network. Installation, modification, or removal of
software will be done only under the supervision of a qualified technician and
with the approval of the principal/district administrators;
H. Students,
staff, parents, and administrators are prohibited from disclosing student
records, personnel information, confidential records, or internal financial
data to unauthorized recipients;
I.
Any user’s network communications that traverses
another network is subject to that network’s acceptable use policy;
J. Student
use is permitted with appropriate administrative authorization, and proper
supervision. Supervision of student use and activities are the responsibility
of the building principal.
K. Users
must recognize and observe applicable copyright laws and usage
restrictions. Unauthorized duplication,
deletion, alteration, or reconfiguration
of District software, or any other activity deemed an infringement of a
product copyright is prohibited;
L. All
data and other work created, stored, or maintained on District computing
resources is the property of the District.
Users are not permitted to inappropriately delete stored information,
regardless of authorship, or to otherwise alter access to their computing
resources in a manner which would deny the District access to historical
information or which would otherwise impede normal functioning of the business
of the District. Specifically, users are
not permitted to “clean” information from their computers prior to departure,
retirement, reassignment, etc., as such actions could be deemed a deliberate
denial of service. This policy is not
intended to preclude any legal rights of authorship to the owner of published
material, created in the course of their duties with the District.
M. The
District reserves the right to read and/or access users’ files when necessary
to resolve problems reported by the owner of those files, or in similar
situations with the knowledge and consent of the owner. Access to a user’s directory and files may be
necessary to remove extraneous files from the system or verify proper system
operation, or to effectuate fixes and upgrades, or to comply with bona fide
investigations. When access is required
without the knowledge and consent of the owner, the activity will be logged by
the building Technology representative, along with the reasons for access, for
review by the Superintendent;
N. Access
to District computing resources shall terminate upon student graduation or
employee termination of employment.
Building Principals shall notify the designated Technology focal point
(usually the “Sysop”) of any changes of student status. The Director of Personnel, and/or the
employee’s termination date is determined, irrespective of the employee’s prior
knowledge of the termination;
O. Each
building Principal (or his/her designated representative) is the first level of
responsibility to review alleged infractions of this policy and will coordinate
with District staff to determine appropriate corrective action. The Principal shall notify the Director of
Technology in writing describing the incident and disposition, within three
business days. This requirement shall
not preclude nor affect the need to immediately notify the Director of
Technology on matters of an urgent nature which require immediate corrective
action;
P. The
Superintendent is the final authority on the resolution of any conflicts
between this policy and other established procedures. The Superintendent is the final decision
authority on all matters related to the District Computer Netowork.
SANCTIONS
A.
Violations may result in loss of access. Users involved
will be informed of the nature of these violations, and will have an
opportunity to respond to them;
B.
Additional disciplinary action may be determined at the
building level in line with existing practice regarding inappropriate language
or behavior;
C.
Users may be required to make full financial
restitution;
D.
When applicable, law enforcement agencies may be
involved.
START-UP SCREEN
NOTICE
A.
The following statement shall be displayed upon
startup, “Your use of the workstation implies that you have read, understand
and agree to abide by the Utica
City School
District’s Acceptable Use Policy for access to
the device.”
INTERNET SAFETY POLICY
I. A. Although
the Utica City School District
recognizes the value of the
Internet as an
educational tool, it also understands that information with
no redeeming social
value is accessible through the internet.
B. 1. The Utica City School District has developed and will
enforce this
Internet Safety Policy in
compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the
Neighborhood Children’s Internet Protection Act (NCIPA).
2. In
addition, the Utica
City School
District maintains its “Computer and Internet Use
Policy”, which governs the acceptable use of the Internet by students and
employees.
II.
Access to the Internet using the Utica City School District’s computer equipment is
subject to the following restrictions:
A.
Filtering. Filtering software will be used to block
minors’ access to:
1.
Visual depictions that are (a) obscene, (b) child
pornography, or (c) harmful to minors; 1 and
2.
Internet sites which, in the Board’s determination,
contain material which is “inappropriate for minors.” (See item B. below)
Adult access to visual depictions
that are obscene and/or child pornography will also be blocked. However, the Superintendent or his/her designee may disable the software to enable
access to blocked sites for bona fide research or other lawful purposes.
B.
Matter
Inappropriate for Minors. The Board
will (from time to time) determine by resolution what Internet material is
“inappropriate for minors” in the Utica
City School
District.
The determination will be based on community standards.
C.
Safety of
Minors When Using Direct Electronic Communications.
1.
In using the computer network and Internet, minors are
not permitted to reveal personal information such as home addresses, telephone
numbers, their real last names or any information which might allow someone
they are communicating with online to locate them. No minor may arrange a face-to-face meeting
with someone he/she “meets” on the computer network or Internet without his/her
parent’s permission.
2.
Before utilizing any electronic communications
(including but not limited to electronic mail and “chat rooms”) in any
instructional setting, students will be taught that they must disclose to their
teacher any message they receive that is inappropriate or makes them feel
uncomfortable. They must also be taught
that they must never agree to meet with someone they have met online without
their parents’ approval.
D.
Unauthorized
Access and Other Unlawful Activities. It
is a violation of this Policy to:
a. use
the Utica City School District’s
computer network or the Internet to gain unauthorized access to other computers
or computer systems, or to attempt to gain such unauthorized access;
b. damage,
disable or otherwise interfere with the operation of computers, computer
systems, software or related equipment through physical action or by electronic
means; and/or
c. violate
state or federal law relating to copyright, trade secrets, the distribution of
obscene or pornographic materials, or any other applicable law or municipal
ordinance.
E.
Unauthorized
Disclosure and Dissemination of Personal Identification Information Regarding
Minors. Personally identifiable
information concerning minors may not be disclosed on the Internet (e.g. On the
Utica City School District’s web page” without the permission of a parent or
guardian. If a student is 18 or over,
the permission may also come from the student himself/herself.
III.
Regulations and
Dissemination. The Superintendent is
authorized to develop and implement regulations consistent with the
policy. The Superintendent will also be
responsible for disseminating the policy and associated regulations to school
personnel and students.
INTERNET
SAFETY POLICY
Appendix
A
Generally speaking, “obscenity” is defined as any work that
an average person (applying contemporary community standards) would find, taken
as a whole, appeals to a prurient interest.
The work also must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual
conduct as specifically defined in state law.
Moreover, the work, taken as a whole, has to lack serous literary,
artistic, political or scientific value.
“Child Pornography” is defined as:
…any
visual depiction, including a photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or
computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic,
mechanical or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where (a) the
production of visual depiction involves the use of a minor (someone under the
age of 19) engaging in sexually explicit conduct; (b) such visual depiction is
or appears to be, of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; (c) such
visual depiction has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an
identifiable minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct; or (d) such visual
depiction is advertised, promoted, presented, described or distributed in such
manner conveys the impression that the material is or contains a visual
depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
The
phrase “harmful to minors” is
defined as:
…any
picture, graphic image, file, or other visual depiction that (a) taken as whole
and with respect to minors (defined here as anyone under the age of 17),
appears to a prurient interest in nudity, sex or excretion; (b) depicts, describes,
or presents, in a patently offensive way with respect to what is suitable for
minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, actual or
simulated normal or perverted sexual acts, or a lewd exhibition of the
genitals; and (c) taken as a whole, lacks serious literacy, artistic,
political, or scientific value as a to minors.
The
phrase “matter/material inappropriate
for minors” must be defined by a determination by the Board applying local
community standards.