Haldane Central School District
Acceptable Use Policy for Technology and
the Internet
School
District Employees
The following Policy and Consent form must be read and
signed by the employee before access will be provided o School
District computer and Internet facilities.
Introduction
The School district furnishes computers and provides access to
the Internet in order to support learning and enhance instruction. By providing access to the Internet, a vast
information highway connecting thousands of computers all over the world, the Haldane Central School District
intends to promote educational excellence and to prepare students for an
increasingly technological world. This
use should facilitate resource sharing, research, innovation and communication.
However, the Haldane
Central School
District also recognizes that with this access
comes the availability of material which is unrelated to curriculum, and which
in many instances is inappropriate for places of learning.
School computers, network, and Internet access are provided
to support the educational mission of the school. They are to be used primarily for
school-related purposes.
Incidental personal use of school computers must not
interfere with the employee’s job performance, must not violate any of the
rules contained in the Student Acceptable Use Policy, and must not damage the
school’s hardware, software or communications systems.
Much of the responsibility for appropriate use of the
Internet must rest on employees themselves.
Therefore, the School District requires
that employees act responsibly by reading and following the policies outlined
below. Furthermore, employee use is
contingent upon execution of a signed Consent and Waiver Agreement as annexed hereto.
Employees must understand that access to School
District computers and Internet facilities is a revocable
privilege, and not a right. Use of the
system can and will be monitored by the School District,
and there is no expectation of privacy in employee use.
Applicability and General Principles
These policies apply to all employees who gain access to the
Internet via computer equipment and /or access lines located in the in the School District.
This includes any remote access which employees may gain from off-site,
but which involves the use of School District
sites, servers, intranet facilities, e-mail accounts or software.
All access to and use of the Internet must be for the
purpose of work, teaching or scholarship consistent with the educational goal
of the School District. Employees must make efficient, ethical and
legal utilization of network resources.
Employees must be aware that material created, stored on, or transmitted
from or via the system is not guaranteed to be private. In addition to the fact that the internet is
inherently insecure, School District network
administrators may review the system at any time to ensure that the system is
being used properly. For this reason,
employees should expect that e-mails, materials placed on personal Web pages,
and other work that is created on the network may be viewed by a third party.
External access will be provided to authorized users by the
assignment of unique log-in identification codes (usernames and passwords) and,
where appropriate, with limited hard disk space on School
District hardware, for their own individual use. Authorized users
will be personally responsible for maintaining the integrity of the School District’s access policy, and may not permit other
persons to use their usernames, passwords, accounts or disk space, or disclose
their usernames, passwords or account information to any third part.
Usernames and passwords will be furnished only to persons
who have signed and returned a copy of this document, and such updates or
modifications as may hereafter be promulgated.
The user’s signature certifies that he/she has read this document,
understands it, and agrees to be bound by its terms.
Users must respect the integrity and security of the School District’s system and network, and access
privileges, privacy and reasonable preferences of other users. The School District
reserves the right to limit access time and disk space in order to optimize an
equitable allocation of resources among users.
The School District makes
no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, for the service it is
providing. It is not responsible for any
damages, including loss of data
Resulting from delays, non-deliveries, mis-deliveries, or service interruptions, whether caused by
the School district’s negligence, or by a user’s errors or omissions.
Information obtained from the Internet is used at the user’s own risk, and the
School District specifically disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy or
quality of information obtained by the employees via access provided by or
through the School District.
The following policies are intentionally broad in scope and,
therefore, may include references to resources, technology and uses not yet
available.
Rules of Conduct and Compliance
Employees who violate this Acceptable Use Policy may have
their access privileges suspended or revoked by the network administrator. In addition, further disciplinary action may
be taken as permitted by applicable law and the terms of any applicable collective
bargaining agreement.
Except as otherwise indicated below, all policies and
prohibitions regarding users of the network also apply to users of individual School District computers.
v
The network may not be used to download, copy,
or store any software, shareware, or freeware.
In order to avoid copyright issues, this prohibition applies to any such
downloading, copying or storage, regardless of copyright status, unless
approved by a network administrator.
Moreover, only the network administrator is authorized to consent to the
terms of any software license with respect to downloaded programs.
v
With the exception of educational software
installed and/or modified by a faculty member for instructional purposes, users
may not add any software or applications to the School District’s network or computers,
or add to or modify any existing software or applications, without the express
permission of the network administrator.
Any software that is installed must be properly licensed from the
copyright owner thereof, and any modifications must comply with the terms of
the applicable license(s).
v
The network may not be used for any commercial purposes, abusers may not buy or sell products or services
through the system.
v
The network may not be used for advertising,
political campaigning, or political lobbying.
v
The network may not be used for any activity, or
to transmit any material, that violates United
States, New
York State
or local laws. This includes, but is not
limited to fraudulent acts, violation of copyright laws, and any threat or act
of intimidation or harassment against another person.
v
Network users may not use vulgar, derogatory, or
obscene language.
v
Network users may not post anonymous messages or
forge e-mail or other messages.
v
Network users may not log on to someone else’s
account, attempt to access another user’s files, or permit anyone else to log
on to their own accounts. Users may not
try to gain unauthorized access (“hacking”) to the files or computer system of
any other person or organization.
However, employees must be aware that any information stored on or
communicated through the School District
network may be susceptible to “hacking” by a third party.
v
Network users may not access Web sites,
newsgroups, or chat areas that contain material that
is obscene or that promotes illegal acts.
Likewise, use of the network to access or process pornographic material
(whether visual or written), material which contains dangerous recipes,
formulas or instructions, is prohibited.
v
Users may not access newsgroups, chat rooms,
list servers, or other services where they may communicate with people outside
of the School District (specifically including
e-mail) except for District business.
While some incidental personal use of such facilities may be permitted,
such incidental use will not be deemed a waiver of the School
District’s right to prohibit all such use, either on an
individually applicable or on a generally applicable basis.
v
Users may not engage in “spamming” (sending an
electronic communication to more than 10 people at the same time) or
participate in chain letters.
v
Users who maliciously
access, alter, delete, damage or destroy any computer system, computer network,
computer program, or data will be subject to criminal prosecution as well as to
disciplinary action by the School District. This includes, but is not limited to,
changing or deleting another user’s account; changing the password of another
user; using an unauthorized account; damaging any files; altering the system to
make money illegally; destroying, modifying, vandalizing, defacing or abusing
hardware, software, furniture or any School district property.
v
Users may not intentionally disrupt information
network traffic or crash the network and connected systems; they must not
degrade or disrupt equipment or system performance. They must not download or save excessively
large files without the express approval of the network administrator.
v
Users may not plagiarize, which is a serious
academic offense. Plagiarism is “taking
ideas or writings from another person and offering them as your own.” Credit must always be given to the person who
created the article or the idea. A person who, by cutting and pasting text data, leads readers
to believe that what they are reading is the person’s original work when it is
not, is guilty of plagiarism.
v
Users must comply with the “fair use” provisions
of the United States Copyright Act of 1976.
“Fair use” in this context means that the copyrighted materials of
others may be used only for scholarly purposes, and that the use must be
limited to brief excerpts. The School
district’s library professionals can assist employees with fair use issues.
v
Users may not copy any copyrighted or licensed
software from the Internet or from the network without the express permission
of the copyright holder: software must be purchased or licensed before it can
legally be used.
v
Users may not take data, equipment, software or
supplies (paper, toner cartridges, disks, etc.) for their own personal
use. Use of School
District printers and paper must be reasonable.
Violations and Consequences
Consequences of violations include but are not limited to:
v
Suspension or revocation of information network
access;
v
Suspension or revocation of network privileges;
v
Suspension or revocation of computer access;
v
Disciplinary action, up to and including
termination of services.
In addition, the School District
will seek monetary compensation for damages in appropriate cases.
Repeated or severe violations will result in more serious
penalties than one-time or minor infractions.
This Acceptable Use Policy is subject to change. The School District
reserves the right to restrict or terminate information network access at any
time for any reason. The School District further reserves the right to monitor
network activity as it sees fit in order to maintain the integrity of the
network and to monitor acceptable use.
School and District-wide administrators will make final determination as
to what constitutes unacceptable use.
Disciplinary penalties involving adverse employment action
will be determined in accordance with applicable state law and the terms of
applicable collective bargaining agreements.
However, by signing the Consent attached to this Acceptable Use Policy,
employees agree that suspension or revocation of access privileges will be
determined by the network administrator, acting in consultation with School and
District-wide administrators.
The consent and
Agreement that appears on the following page must be signed and returned by the
employee as a condition of access to School District
computer and Internet facilities.
Consent and Waiver
Agreement
By signing this Acceptable Use Policy Consent and Waiver
Agreement, I agree that I will abide by the terms of the Acceptable use Policy
for Technology and the Internet of the Haldane Central
School District. I have read the Acceptable Use Policy for
Technology and the Internet, and I understand it. I further understand that this form will be
kept on file for the future reference.
Employee Name:
__________________________________
(Please Print Legibly)
Signature:
________________________________________ Date:
_____________