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Madisonville Consolidated Independent School District

Technology » Staff Acceptable Use Policy

Staff Acceptable Use Policy

MADISONVILLE CONSOLIDATED ISD INTERNET SAFETY AND RESPONSIBLE USE POLICY FOR STAFF

Overview:

The Madisonville Consolidated Independent School District provides Internet access to the staff to promote educational excellence in our schools by facilitating resource sharing, innovation, and communication. If a MCISD user violates any of these provisions, his or her account will be terminated and other disciplinary action will be taken as deemed appropriate. A system user is defined as an employee, contracted personnel, or student of MCISD who has access to the computers and/or electronic communication system.

Regulations and Guidelines:

The superintendent or designee will oversee the district s electronic communications system. The district s system will be used only for administrative and educational purposes consistent with the district s mission and goals. Commercial use by individuals of the district s system is strictly prohibited. The district will provide training to employees in proper use of the system and will provide all users with copies of acceptable use guidelines. All training in the use of the district's system will emphasize the ethical use of this resource.

System Access

Access to the district s electronic communications system will be governed as follows:
  1. Upon agreeing to the MCISD s Internet Safety and Responsible Use Policy and approval of the superintendent or designee, district employees will be granted access to the district s system.
  2. A teacher may apply for a class account and, in doing so, will be ultimately responsible for the use of the account. Teachers with accounts will be required to maintain password confidentiality by not sharing the password with students or others.
  3. Any system user identified as a security risk or having violated district and/or campus computer-use guidelines may be denied access to the district's system. Other consequences may also be taken.
Campus-Level Coordinator Responsibilities

As the campus-level coordinator for the electronic communications system, the principal or designee will:

Be responsible for disseminating and enforcing applicable district policies and responsible use guidelines for the district s system at the campus level.

Ensure that all users of the district s system complete and sign an agreement to abide by district policies and administrative regulations regarding such use. All such agreements will be maintained on file at the central office.

Ensure that employees supervising students who use the district s system provide training emphasizing the appropriate use of the resource.

District-Level Coordinator Responsibilities

As the district-level coordinator for the electronic communications system, the superintendent or designee will:
  1. Be authorized to monitor or examine all system activities, including electronic mail transmissions, as deemed appropriate to ensure proper use of the system.
  2. Set limits for disk utilization on the system, as needed.
  3. Deny, revoke, or suspend specific user accounts, with or without cause or notice, for lack of use, violation of network regulations, or as a result of other disciplinary actions against the user.
Individual User Responsibilities

The following standards will apply to all users of the district s electronic information/communications systems:

On-Line Conduct
  1. The individual in whose name a system account is issued will be responsible at all times for its proper use.
  2. The system may not be used for illegal purposes, in support of illegal activities, or for any other activity prohibited by district policy.
  3. Use for commercial, income generating or for-profit activities (example: selling personal items through school email), product advertisement, or political lobbying is prohibited by users. Sending unsolicited junk mail or chain letters is prohibited.
  4. System users may not use another person's system account without written permission from the district coordinator, as appropriate.
  5. System users must purge deleted and sent items in electronic mail each quarter.
  6. System users may redistribute copyrighted programs or data only with the written permission of the copyright holder or designee. Such permission must be specified in the document or must be obtained directly from the copyright holder or designee in accordance with applicable copyright laws, district policy, and administrative regulations.
  7. System users may upload public domain programs to the system. System users may also download public domain programs for their own use or may non-commercially redistribute a public domain program. System users are responsible for determining whether a program is in the public domain.
  8. Real-time discussions such as chat room or instant messaging are prohibited.
  9. System users may not purposefully access or redistribute materials that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another s reputation, illegal, or violent.
  10. System users may not waste District resources related to the electronic communication system.
  11. System users may not gain unauthorized access to resources or information.
  12. All system users are prohibited from playing any type of computer or network game, downloading music, or accessing streaming media not directly related to an approved MCISD curriculum.
Vandalism

Any malicious attempt to harm or destroy district equipment or materials, data of another user of the district s system, or any of the agencies or other networks that are connected to the Internet is prohibited. Deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt system performance may be viewed as violations of district policy and administrative regulations and, possibly, as criminal activity under applicable state and federal laws. This includes, but is not limited to, the uploading or creating of computer viruses. Vandalism as defined above will result in the cancellation of system use privileges and will require restitution for costs associated with system restitution, hardware, or software costs.

Forgery Prohibited

Forgery or attempted forgery of electronic mail messages is prohibited. Attempt to read, delete, copy, or modify the electronic mail of other system users to send/receive electronic mail is prohibited.

Information Content/Third Party Supplied

System users and parents of students with access to the district s system should be aware that use of the system may provide access to other electronic communications systems in the global electronic network that may contain inaccurate and/or objectionable material.

An employee knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school's electronic environment will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with district policies. This could result in termination of employment for employees.

Network Etiquette

System users are expected to observe the following network etiquette:
  1. Use appropriate language; swearing, vulgarity, ethnic or racial slurs, and any other inflammatory language are prohibited.
  2. Pretending to be someone else when sending/receiving messages is considered inappropriate.
  3. Transmitting obscene messages or pictures is prohibited.
  4. Revealing personal addresses or phone numbers of the user or others is prohibited.
  5. Using the network in such a way that would disrupt the use of the network by other users is prohibited.
Termination/Revocation of System User Account

The district may suspend or revoke a system user s access to the district s system upon violation of district policy and/or administrative regulations regarding acceptable use.

The termination of an employee s account or of a student s access will be effective on the date the principal or district coordinator receives notice of student withdrawal or of revocation of system privileges, or on a future date if so specified in the notice.

Consequences of Improper Use

Improper or unethical use may result in disciplinary actions consistent with the existing Employee Handbook,Texas Education Code Board Policy CQ LOCAL, and if appropriate, the Texas Penal Code, computer crimes, Chapter 33, or other state and federal laws.

Disclaimer

The district s system is provided on an as is, as available basis. The district does not make any warranties, whether expressed or implied, including, without limitation, those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to any services provided by the system and any information or software contained therein. The district does not warrant that the functions or services performed by, or that information or software contained on, the system will meet the system user s requirements, or that the system will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that defects will be corrected.

Opinions, advice, services, and all other information expressed by system users, information providers, service providers, or other third party individuals in the system are those of the providers and not the district. The district will cooperate fully with the local, state, or federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to misuse of the district s electronic communication system.

E-Mail

All use of Madisonville CISD electronic mail shall be consistent with the purposes and goals of public education. Successful operation of the e-mail service requires that its users regard Madisonville CISD electronic mail as a shared resource, and cooperate to form a community of diverse interests with the common purpose of advancing education in our district. It is therefore imperative that members conduct themselves in a responsible, ethical, and polite manner while using their e-mail accounts. The intent of the Madisonville CISD Internet Safety and Responsible Use Policy is to ensure that all uses of Madisonville CISD e-mail are consistent with educational purposes. Any district email user violating district email guidelines may be denied access to district email. While the policy does not attempt to articulate all required or proscribed behavior by the users, the following policy guidelines do apply:
  1. Any use of your account for illegal purposes, or in support of illegal activities, is prohibited.
  2. Refrain from using your account for commercial purposes, product advertisement or political lobbying.
  3. No use of your account shall serve to disrupt the use of the network by other users.
  4. You are responsible at all times for the use of your account; it should be used only by the authorized owner of the account for the authorized purpose.
  5. Attempts to read, delete, copy or modify the electronic mail of other users are prohibited.
  6. Any user's traffic that traverses another network may be subject to that network's acceptable use policy.
  7. You are expected to abide by the generally accepted rules of network etiquette.
  8. Non school related communication to outside parties is permitted on a limited basis.
  9. System users may not distribute personal information about others by means of the electronic communication system.
  10. System users may not send or post messages that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another s reputation, illegal, or violent.
Use of e-mail account indicates acceptance of the Madisonville CISD Internet Safety and Acceptable Use Policy. Madisonville CISD shall not be liable for users inappropriate use of electronic communication resources or violations of copyright restrictions, users mistakes or negligence, or costs incurred by users. Madisonville CISD shall not be responsible for ensuring the accuracy or usability of any information transmitted by e-mail.

Electronic Mail and Technology Guidelines
  1. The software and hardware that provides e-mail has been publicly funded. For that reason, the contents of any communication of this type would be governed by the Open Records Act. The school district would have to abide and cooperate with any legal request for access to e-mail contents by the proper authorities.
  2. Since e-mail access is provided as a normal operating tool for any employee who requires it to perform their job, individual staff e-mail addresses must be shared with interested parents and community members who request to communicate with staff. E-mail addresses will be posted on the district web site.
  3. Staff should be expected to return e-mail communications to parents or other public members who have a legitimate request within 24 hours whenever possible. Request from outside agencies for information do not fit into this same category and can be handled with a different timeline or in a manner consistent with previous experience in working with similar request. Staff should not participate in e-mail surveys without district authorization.
  4. Incoming e-mail that is misaddressed will remain undeliverable . MCISD does not have staff available to personally inspect all messages of this type and forward them to the proper person. Please be certain that you give out your correct e-mail address.
  5. Requests for personal information of students or staff members should not be honored via e-mail. It is critical for a personal contact to be made with any individual requesting personal information. This relates particularly to any requests for student grades, discipline, attendance or related information. In addition, security information such as username or password should not be sent via e-mail for any reason.
  6. During student contact time in the classroom, your e-mail notifier should be turned off to prevent interruptions. Staff members should set aside time at least twice a day to check and respond to e-mail messages.
  7. Since the main purpose of email is for school business related use, please refrain from forwarding messages that have no educational or professional value. An example would be of messages that show a cute text pattern or follow a chain letter concept. These messages should be deleted and the sender notified that messages of that nature are not appropriate to receive on your district e-mail account.
  8. Please use the groups function of our e-mail system appropriately. Do not send messages to an entire staff when only a small group of people actually needs to receive the message.
  9. Attachments to e-mail messages should include only data files. At no time should program files (typically labeled .exe ) be attached due to software licensing requirements. In addition, there exists the real possibility that any program files received as attachments over the Internet may include viruses or other very destructive capabilities once they are launched or started. If you receive an attachment like this, please delete the e-mail message immediately without saving or looking at the attachment.
  10. Please use your personal Internet account at home to receive listserv subscriptions.
  11. Students will not be issued individual e-mail account. For any projects that involve e-mail communications, use your district account and you facilitate the activity.
  12. Please notify the district technology coordinator if you receive unsolicited e-mail, particularly if it is of a hate mail nature. We will attempt to track down the source of that e-mail and prevent you from receiving any additional unsolicited mail.
User Security Responsibilities
  1. Usernames and passwords should be protected from unauthorized use at all times. Do not post any of this information where it can be viewed by others.
  2. Do not share a password via e-mail at any times. If a technology representative needs that information, they must request it in person.
  3. Do not leave network software such as gradebook, Outlook, or pentamation open when you are away from your room. This would allow anyone to potentially access information-sensitive files.
  4. It is the users' responsibility to backup all documents on the server. When computers are picked up for repair or maintenance, only files in My Documents, mail information and favorites will be saved.
  5. All computer and video hardware should be shut down each evening. This includes CPU s, monitors, and VCR s. The exception to this would be laser printers. They can be left on since they include automatic power-saving features.
  6. No software packages can be purchased at the campus or department level without approval from the technology coordinator.
  7. No hardware can be purchased at the campus level without approval from the technology coordinator.
  8. No software will be installed without documentation that proper licensing has been purchased.