West Hartford Public Schools
Administrative Guidelines
for Use of Technology
The use of computers
and related technology supports the curriculum and enhances
communication.
Users, students and staff will access a vast scope of information available in
the
school
system as well as connections to global resources via the Internet. Since
neither the West
Hartford
Public Schools nor any of its staff controls the content of the information
available on
the
Internet; users must be aware that some of the information may be controversial
or offensive.
Users encountering
such controversial or offensive information should exit the site and contact
their
teacher or school administration. Individual users are responsible for their
own conduct.
The use of computers
is a privilege, not a right. As the owner of both the hardware and software,
the
West Hartford Public Schools reserves the authority to withdraw this privilege.
Failure to
adhere to
these guidelines will result in disciplinary action that may include loss of computer
access,
referral to legal authorities or other administrative action.
1. Use of the
computers must be in support of education, business, or research within the
educational
goals and objectives of West Hartford Public Schools.
2. Users may access
on-line services, use e-mail and voice mail for school related
assignments,
educational, administrative or other professional purposes.
3. Electronic
communications (i.e. voice mail, email, Internet) should not be considered
completely
private and secure. Users should not, under any circumstances, transmit or
reveal
personal or confidential information about yourself or others, including but
not
limited to:
home address, telephone number, password, social security number, credit
card
number, or confidential or sensitive information regarding students or staff
4. The district has
the ability and reserves the right to bypass individual user passwords
and to
monitor the use of such systems by students and staff. Therefore, students and
staff
should not expect to maintain personal privacy in the use of the system
5. Users will comply
with all school policies concerning acceptable behavior, state,
federal and
local laws, including copyright laws and those laws prohibiting harassment
by
computer &A 95-143).
6. Users must not
interfere with others' work or with the performance of the computers,
both
hardware and software. These actions include but are not limited to: attempting
to
illicitly
obtain passwords or screen names, entering closed areas of the network,
introducing
computer viruses, or accessing or altering educational records.
7. All users will
abide by the generally accepted rules of user etiquette and all applicable
school
policies.
8. Chain letters and
pyramid schemes (chain letters with money) are illegal.
9. Bulk posting to
individuals or groups to overload the system (i.e., spamming or any
similar
actions) is prohibited.
10. Students may not
install personally owned or created software on networks or networked
computers.
Staff may not install personally owned or created software on networks or
networked
computers.
11. Staff members
wishing to supplement district software may install single copies of
personally
owned software on non-networked computers, in compliance with copyright
law, as
long as it does not interfere with normal computer functions or data integrity.
12. Reproduction of
copyrighted electronic resources should not take place without
appropriate
source documentation and permission.
13. Official
representation of the school or school district (i.e. Internet home page) may
be
established by
obtaining prior written approval of school administration. Approved
representations
will comply with copyright law.
14. Users may access
their own personal on-line accounts, for educational purposes only,
with
advance permission and when it does not interfere with school-related
activities.
15. Users will abide
by the rules of other computer resources accessed through the school
telecommunications
systems.
16. Teachers will
monitor the use of the Internet by students at a grade appropriate level.
17. Prior to
publishing student work on the Internet, teachers will obtain a parent or
guardian's
permission in writing.
18. All other Board
policies regarding the confidentiality of student information are in effect.
19. All state and
local laws regarding technology are upheld and applicable.
WHPS Department of Information Technology
April 2002