Digital Citizenship

Student Use of the Internet

Green Gables students shall follow the approve district internet rules and regulations.
Book District Policies - Jefferson County School District R-1
Section J: Students
Title Student Use of the Internet
Number JS
Status Active
Legal 47 U.S.C. 201 et seq. (Communications Decency Act of 1995)
47 U.S.C. 231 et seq. (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 2000)
Adopted June 26, 1997
Last Revised May 3, 2010
Last Reviewed May 3, 2010

The district believes the Internet should be used in schools as a learning resource to educate and to inform students. Accordingly, the district provides access to the Internet for its students as a means to offer a wide variety of educational resources. While many opportunities offered by the Internet are exciting and appropriate, others are unsuitable for school use. Consequently, use of the computer and Internet is for educational purposes only while attending school.

The Internet is a fluid environment in which information available to students is constantly changing. The district acknowledges that it is impossible to predict with certainty what information students might locate. The electronic information available to students does not imply endorsement by the district of the content, nor does the district make any guarantee as to the accuracy of information received on the Internet.

The district will make every reasonable effort to ensure that this educational resource is used appropriately and responsibly by students. To this end the district will provide content filtering devices and applications that control student access to inappropriate material on the Internet. Administrators, teachers, and staff have a professional responsibility to work together to help students develop the intellectual skills needed to evaluate and choose information sources, to identify information appropriate to their age and developmental levels, create effective and appropriate information, and to evaluate and use information to meet their educational goals.

Use of this educational resource demands personal responsibility and an understanding of the district's acceptable use procedures for the Internet. Student use of the Internet is a privilege, not a right, and therefore entails responsibility. General rules for behavior and communications apply when using the Internet. Failure to follow the district's acceptable use procedures and/or this policy will result in the loss of the privilege to use this educational tool and restitution for costs associated with damages, and may result in school disciplinary action (including suspension or expulsion) and/or legal action.

The district's network administrators may review student files and communications to maintain system integrity and to ensure that users are using the system appropriately and responsibly. Students shall have no expectation of privacy in any information stored on the district's servers, or in their use of school computers. The district reserves the right to monitor, inspect, copy, review and store (at any time and without prior notice) all usage of district computers and computer systems, including all internet and electronic communications access and transmission/receipt or materials and information.

Students and their parents/legal guardians shall be required to complete and sign the district's "Acceptable Use Agreement" prior to students being permitted to access the Internet at school. The completed and signed Agreements shall be kept on file with the school.

Prohibited Uses

No student shall access, create, transmit, retransmit or forward material or information that:

• promotes violence or advocates destruction of property including, but not limited to, access to information concerning the manufacturing or purchasing of destructive devices or weapons.

• is not related to district educational objectives except as provided in other district policies.

• contains pornographic, obscene or other sexually oriented materials, either as pictures or writings, which are intended to stimulate erotic feelings or appeal to prurient interests in nudity, sex or excretion.

• depicts, describes or represents in a potentially offensive way simulated sexual act or sexual content or a lewd exhibit of the genitals that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific values.

• harasses, threatens, demeans, or promotes violence or hatred against another person or group of persons with regard to race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, marital status, disability or handicap. Sexual orientation is a person's orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or perception of the individual's sexual orientation.

• plagiarizes the work of another.

• uses inappropriate or profane language or depictions likely to offend or intimidate others in the school community.

• is knowingly false or could be construed as intending to purposely damage another person's reputation.

• violates any federal or state law, including but not limited to copyrighted material and material protected by trade secret that contains personal information about themselves or others, including information protected by confidentiality laws.

• impersonates another or transmits through an anonymous remailer.

• shares student or district staff home addresses, phone numbers, or other private information except as allowed in district policy JRA/JRC.

The following activities are also prohibited:

• Using another individual's internet or electronic communications account.

• Unauthorized attempts to log in to any network as a system administrator.

• Any malicious attempt to harm or destroy Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) data, data of another user, or other JCPS computing facility.

• Downloading, installing, storing or using malicious software, viruses, 'cracking,' and keystroke monitoring software and/or hardware.

• Attempting to evade, disable, or 'crack' password or other security provisions of the systems on the network.

• Interfering with or disrupting another information technology user's work as well as the proper function of information processing and network services or equipment.

• Intercepting or altering network packets.

• Using information systems or resources for personal use or gain.

• Sharing or loaning accounts: all computer/security accounts are for the use of the single individual, the person for whom the account was approved. Sharing or loaning accounts is prohibited.

• The individual assigned a computer/security account is accountable for any and all transactions entered under that computer/security account login.

• Leaving an active system unattended, thereby allowing an unauthorized person to gain access to district resources through the user's login session.

• Attempting to gain unauthorized access to any other computer/security accounts.

• Using a computer for unlawful purposes, such as the illegal copying or installation of software, or violation of copyright laws.

• Exporting software, technical information, encryption software, or technology in violation of international or regional export control laws.

• Altering technology equipment (hardware or software).

• Accessing, viewing, or altering any official record or file of the school or district.

Sanctions

Sanctions for violations of any of the above prohibitions may include loss of Internet access, restitution for costs associated with damages, school disciplinary action (including suspension or expulsion), and legal action.

Student Generated Content Limitations on School Web Sites
Online publication of student newspapers, yearbooks, and/or literary magazines may be included or directly linked from school web sites if the following items are observed:

1. Those sections are clearly identified as such in the site’s directory and in those sections themselves.

2. All materials published in these sections meet the requirements of school and district policies and state and federal laws including but not limited to C.R.S. 22-1-120 and district policy JICEA.

3. The publication is supervised by an advisor assigned to the task by the principal or principal's designee.

Content contained in the publications shall be under the control of the staff members who are assigning and grading the work or overseeing the activity. The school and district shall not be responsible for work created by a student that fails to conform to the above restrictions.

Student Initiated Organizations on School Web Sites
Student organizations that are curriculum related and recognized in accordance with district policy JJA, Student Organizations, may have sites on the school web site. The content of such sites shall be supervised by the student organization’s approved sponsor.

Collaborative Technologies
Students may use blogs, wikis, and other forms of collaborative technologies as long as such use is consistent with this policy and provided that a staff member is assigned to a moderator role to ensure that inappropriate material is removed in a timely fashion. The school and district are not responsible for inappropriate content posted by participants acting outside of the identified educational purposes.

The use of collaborative technologies with student participation shall be restricted to an environment that includes staff supervision and does not allow anonymous participation. It is acceptable for participants to use screen names as long as the staff supervisor shall know the true identity of each student using a pseudonym.

Changes in Technology
Technology changes rapidly, and this policy may be revised at the district's discretion.

Protection of Private Information
Because internet publications are available to the entire world, special care should be taken to protect the privacy of students and staff. No personal information about students and staff, such as home addresses and telephone numbers, shall be included on a district hosted or supported internet resource. Pictures of students and other directory information, as defined by district policy JRA/JRC and regulation JRA/JRC-R, Student Records/Release of Information on Students, may be included unless the parent or eligible student has refused in writing to permit such information to be designated as directory information as permitted by district policy JRA/JRC.