The Upper Moreland School District provides employees and students access to the district’s technology resources which includes, but is not limited to, its electronic communications systems, computers, computer network, hardware, software, and Internet access, whether wired or wireless or by any other means.

The Board supports the use of its technology resources, such as the Internet and other computer networks in the district’s instructional program in order to facilitate teaching and learning through interpersonal communications, access to information, research, and collaboration, i.e., to foster the educational mission of the school district.  In addition, such technology resources facilitate efficient school district operations.

The use of the District’s technology resources will be for appropriate school related, educational, and operational purposes, and performance of job duties consistent with the objectives of the District.  Use for educational purposes will be consistent with the curriculum adopted by the school district as well as the varied instructional needs, learning styles, abilities, and developmental levels of students.  All use for any purpose must comply with this policy and all other applicable Codes of Conduct, policies, procedures, and rules, and must not cause damage to the District’s technology resources.

All employees and students are responsible for the appropriate and lawful use of the school district’s technology resources.  This policy is intended to ensure that employee and students continue to enjoy access to the school district’s technology resources in an appropriate manner and for appropriate purposes.

 
Authority
The Board establishes that the access to, and use of its technology resources, including but not limited to the Internet, is a privilege, not a right, which may be revoked at any time.  The technology resources are the property of the school district.  The school district’s technology resources are provided as a resource for educational and operational purposes as stated herein and are not provided as a public access service or public forum.  In addition, all school district computer files and communications over District electronic networks, including email and voice mail, are not private.  No employee or student shall have any expectation of privacy regarding such use of school district technology resources.  The school district reserves the right to log network use, to monitor fileserver space utilization and to review the contents of users’ files, including email.  The school district reserves the right to access, inspect, review, copy, and store at any time and without prior notice, any and all usage of the technology resources, and any information transmitted or received in connection with such usage.  All such informational files will be and remain the property of the school district.  The school district reserves the right to establish further guidelines and limits on such use of technology resources hereinafter. 

The school district reserves the right to restrict access to any technology resources including but not limited to, Internet sites or functions it may deem inappropriate, through general policy or the use of software filtering or blocking.  The Superintendent or designee may determine that particular uses are or are not related to school district operational or educational purposes or the performance of job duties or otherwise consistent with the objectives of the school district.  The decision of the Superintendent or designee is final. 

The Superintendent or designee will oversee the district’s technology resources and will work with other regional or state organizations as necessary. 

The Superintendent will designate a network administrator who will establish a process for allocating accounts and for maintaining networks and network security.

The building principal will serve as the building level coordinator for the district’s electronic communication system and will approve building level activities.

Responsibility
The district will make every effort to ensure that this educational resource is used responsibly by students and staff.  The school district will educate students and employees regarding their individual responsibility to refrain from engaging in inappropriate, unacceptable, or illegal use of school district technology resources and the consequences of their actions if they do so.  The school district will implement procedures and install all federal or state mandated technology and software filters to restrict and monitor the use of the school district’s technology resources.  The Superintendent will cooperate fully with Internet Service Providers, local, state, and federal officials related to any investigation concerning or related to the misuse of district technology resources. 

Employees and students are responsible for reading and following this policy.

Administrators, teachers and staff have a professional responsibility to work together to help students develop the intellectual skills necessary to discriminate among information sources, to identify information appropriate to their age and development levels, and to evaluate and use the information to meet their educational goals.

Students and staff have the responsibility to respect the rights of other users in the district and on the Internet.

Students and staff are responsible for the content of files and email originating in their accounts.  Students and staff will not be held responsible for the content of unsolicited email sent to their accounts.

Guidelines
Network accounts will be used only by the authorized owner of the account for its authorized purpose.  Personal use is not authorized unless otherwise stated by administration.

Students and staff are expected to act in a responsible, ethical and legal manner in accordance with district policy, accepted rules of network etiquette, and federal and state law.

All users must assume that communications via the school district’s technological resources are not secure.  The school district’s technology resources should not be used to transmit non-encrypted confidential information related to students, employees or school district operations without prior authorization from the Superintendent or designee.  Communications via the school district’s technology resources may not include a child’s last name, phone number, address, grade level, or reference to other family members, or information which indicates the physical location of a student at a given time unless specifically authorized, required or permitted by law.

Prohibitions

1.   Use of the technology resources to violate the law, facilitate illegal activity, or encourage others to do so.

2.   Use of the technology resources to engage in any act which might threaten the health, safety, or welfare of any person or persons, such as arranging for a drug sale, or the purchase of alcohol.

3.   Use of the technology resources to cause harm to others or damage to their property.

4.   Use of the technology resources to send or communicate hate mail, terroristic threats, discriminatory remarks, harassing communications or other offensive or inflammatory communications.

5.   Use of inappropriate, obscene, indecent, vulgar, rude or profane language via technology resources.

6.   Use of the technology resources to access or distribute obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, pornographic or terroristic material.

7.   Use of the technology resources to engage in vandalism, which is defined as any attempt to harm, alter, or destroy files, software, or hardware of another user, internet or other network, including but not limited to, the uploading, intentional downloading, or creation of computer viruses and the like.

8.   The physical harm, destruction, modification, or abuse of technology resources.

9.   Use of technology resources that jeopardizes the security of the school district’s technology resources.

10.    Any attempt to gain unauthorized access to the district’s electronic communication system or to gain unauthorized access to any other computer system through the district’s electronic communication system.

11.    Use of the technology resources to intentionally obtain or modify files, passwords, and data belonging to other users.

12.    Use of the technology resources to disrupt the work of other users.

13.    Impersonation of another user, anonymity, and pseudonyms.

14.    Unauthorized access, interference, possession, or distribution of confidential or private information.

15.    Using technology resources to send any school district information to another party, except in the ordinary course of business as necessary or appropriate for the advancement of the school district’s business or educational interests.

16.    Failing or refusing to adhere to the guidelines and security provisions set forth in this policy.

17.    Use of the technology resources for fraudulent copying, communications, or modification of materials in violation of copyright laws.

18.    Unauthorized or illegal installation, distribution, reproduction, or use of copyrighted materials.

19.    Use of technology resources to commit plagiarism.

20.    Quoting personal communications in a public forum without the original author’s prior consent.

21.    Installing, loading, or using unauthorized or unlicensed software, games, programs, files, or other electronic media onto technology resources.

22.    Installing unauthorized computer hardware, peripheral devices, network hardware, or system hardware onto technology resources.

23.    Copying school district software to unauthorized computer systems.

24.    Use of the technology resources for personal gain.

25.    Use of the technology resources for product advertisement, commercial, or for profit purposes.

26.    Use of the technology resources for political lobbying or campaigning.

The aforementioned list is not exhaustive.  The Superintendent or designee may determine that other uses violate this policy.  The decision of the Superintendent or designee is final.

For students, a special exception may be made for addressing sensitive topics, such as hate literature, if the purpose of such access is to conduct research and access is given with appropriate approval in consultation with parents, depending on the age of the students. District employees may access the above material only in the context of legitimate research.

Security

System security is protected through the use of passwords.  Failure to adequately protect or update passwords could result in unauthorized access to personal or district files.  To protect the integrity of the system, the following guidelines will be followed:

1. Employees and students will not reveal their passwords to another individual.
2. Users are not to use a computer that has been logged on under another student’s or employee’s name, unless under the direction of a staff member, teacher or librarian, such as when sharing index or search software on the desktop.
3. Any user identified as a security risk or having a history of problems with other computer systems may be denied access to the technology resources.

To the greatest extent possible, users of the network will be protected from harassment or unwanted or unsolicited communication.  Any network user who receives threatening or unwelcome communications will immediately bring them to the attention of a teacher or administrator.

Network users are cautioned that revealing personal addresses, telephone number, or contact information to other users on the network may not be secure.  District employees may provide work related information as required to perform their duties.

Any user, who inadvertently accesses inappropriate material, should immediately disclose the inadvertent access, the access code, and the date of discovery to the teacher in charge or supervisory personnel.  This may protect users against an allegation that they have intentionally violated the Acceptable Use policy.

Illegal use of the network; intentional deletion or damage to files of data belonging to others; copyright violations and/or theft of services will be reported to the appropriate legal authorities for possible prosecution.

For students, general rules for behavior and communications apply when using the Internet, in addition to the stipulations of this policy.  Loss of access and disciplinary actions, as those indicated in the district’s Code of Conduct, will be consequences for prohibited or otherwise inappropriate use.

For employees, prohibited, inappropriate, unauthorized and/or illegal use of the school district’s technology resources will result in the cancellation of those privileges and possible disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.

Copyright
The illegal use of copyrighted software by students and staff is prohibited.  Any data uploaded to or downloaded from the network will be subject to “fair use” guidelines, copyright law, licenses or contractual agreements, or the permission of the copyright proprietor.

District Limitation of Liability
The Upper Moreland School district makes no warranties of any kind, either express or implied, that the functions or the services provided by or through the district’s electronic communication system will be error free or without defect.

The district will not be responsible for any damage users may suffer, including but not limited to, loss of data or interruptions to service.

The district is not responsible for the accuracy or quality of the information obtained through or stored on the system.

The district will not be responsible for financial obligations arising through the unauthorized use of the system.

In the event there is an allegation that a student has violated the district’s Acceptable Use policy, the student will be provided with notice and opportunity to be heard in the manner set forth in the district’s Code of Conduct. Applicable due process procedures will be followed when a student violates the discipline code.

Disciplinary actions will be tailored to meet specific concerns related to the violation and to assist the student in gaining the self discipline necessary to behave appropriately on an electronic network.  If the alleged violation also involves a violation of other provisions of the Code of Conduct, the violation will be handled in accord with the applicable provision of the disciplinary code.  Offenders may also be subject to criminal prosecution.

Employee violations of the district’s Acceptable Use policy will be handled in accord with the School Code, district policy and collective bargaining agreements.

User Files
The Upper Moreland School District’s networks users should be aware that their personal files are reviewable by the district and other authorities. 

Should routine maintenance and monitoring of the system lead to the discovery that a user has or is violating the district’s Acceptable Use policy or the law, an individual search will be conducted.  The nature of the investigation will be reasonable and in the context of the nature of the alleged violation.

Examination of or access to users’ files, whether student or employee, will be coordinated with the network administrator who will report all such examinations or access to the Superintendent.

District Web Site
The Upper Moreland School District has established an official web site and has developed web pages that present information about the district. 

The Superintendent will designate the person responsible for maintaining the district’s web site.  Other web pages created by schools, classes, or activity groups are not considered to be an official part of the district website, unless so authorized.

The district reserves the right to review and approve all web site content.