ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY FOR TECHNOLOGY
AND THE INTERNET
― SCHOOL DISTRICT EMPLOYEES ―
The following Policy must
be agreed to by the employee before access will be provided to School District computer and Internet facilities. Use of
such facilities after receipt of this Policy is deemed to constitute agreement.
Introduction
Port
Chester- Rye Union Free School District
(“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 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 School
District also recognizes that with this access comes the
availability of material which is unrelated to scholarship, and which in many
instances is inappropriate for places of learning.
For this reason, computer,
network and Internet facilities (including, without limitation, e-mail and
discussion groups) are to be used only purposes directly related to work,
teaching or scholarship. Employees should use their own computers and their own
Internet access arrangements for all other purposes.
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.
Employees must understand that
access to School District computer 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 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 purposes of work, teaching or scholarship consistent
with the educational goals 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 party.
Usernames and passwords will be
furnished subject to the provisions of this Policy, and such updates or
modifications as may hereafter be promulgated.
Users must respect the integrity
and security of the School District’s systems
and network, and the 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 express 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 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.
1. 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.
2. 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 which is installed must be properly licensed from the
copyright owner thereof, and any modifications
must comply with the terms of the applicable license(s).
3. The network may not be used for any
commercial purposes, and users may not buy or sell products or services through the system.
4. The network may not be used for
advertising, political campaigning, or political lobbying.
5. 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,
violations of copyright laws, and any threat or act of intimidation or harassment against another person.
6. The School
District is a place of tolerance and good manners. Use of the
network or any School District
computer facilities for hate mail, defamatory statements, statements intended to injure or humiliate others by
disclosure of personal information (whether true or false), personal attacks on others, and statements
expressing animus towards any person
or group by reason of race, color, religion, Network users may not use vulgar, derogatory, or obscene language.
Network users may not post anonymous messages or forge e-mail or other messages.
7. Users are strongly advised to use
caution about revealing any information on the Internet which would enable others to exploit them or their identities:
this includes last names, home
addresses, Social Security numbers, passwords, credit card numbers or financial
institution account information, and
photographs. Under no circumstances should a user reveal such information about another person without that person’s
express or prior consent.
8. 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 systems 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.
9. 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), or
material which contains dangerous
recipes, formulas or instructions, is prohibited.
10. 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.
11. Users may not engage in “spamming”
(sending irrelevant or inappropriate electronic communications individually or en masse) or participate
in electronic chain letters other than
for official school district purposes.
12. 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; using the system to make money illegally; destroying,
modifying, vandalizing, defacing or abusing hardware, software, furniture or any School District property. Users may
not develop programs that harass
other users or infiltrate a computer or computer system and/or damage the software components of a computer or
computer system (e.g., create viruses, worms) is prohibited.
13. 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.
14. 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 or data, leads
readers to believe that what they are reading is the person's original work when it is not, is guilty of plagiarism.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. Users may not take data, equipment,
software or supplies (paper, toner cartridges, disks, etc.) for their own personal use. Such taking will be treated
as theft. Use of School District
printers and paper must be reasonable.
18. Port Chester- Rye Union Free School
District assumes no responsibility for student, faculty or staff websites created and hosted outside of the district
network.
Violations and Consequences
Consequences of violations
include but are not limited to:
• Suspension or revocation
of information network access;
• Suspension or revocation
of network privileges;
• Suspension or revocation
of computer access;
• 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, suspension or revocation of access privileges will be determined by
the network administrator, acting in consultation with school and District-wide
administrators.
ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY FOR TECHNOLOGY
AND THE INTERNET AGREEMENT
I have read, understand, and agree to the terms and conditions of the
Port Chester
Rye Union Free School
District ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY FOR TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTERNET.
Staff
member name (please print) Date
Staff member signature_files/image001.gif)