INTRODUCTION:

The Gill-Montague Regional School District shall provide access for employees and students to the system/network, including access to external networks, for limited educational purposes.

Educational purposes shall be defined as classroom activities, career and professional development, and high quality self discovery activities of an educational nature. The purpose of the system/network is to assist in preparing students for success in life and work by providing access to a wide range of information and the ability to communicate with others. The system/network will be used to increase communication (staff, parent, and student), enhance productivity, and assist staff in upgrading existing skills and acquiring new skills through a broader exchange of information. The system/network will also be utilized to provide information to the community, including parents, governmental agencies, and businesses.

Availability

The Superintendent or designee shall implement, monitor, and evaluate the district’s system/network for instructional and administrative purposes.

Access to the system/network, including external networks, shall be made available to employees and students for instructional and administrative purposes and in accordance with administrative regulations and procedures.

Access to the system/network is a privilege, not a right. All users shall be required to acknowledge receipt and understanding of all administrative regulations and procedures governing use of the system and shall agree in writing to comply with such regulations and procedures. Noncompliance with applicable regulations and procedures may result in suspension or termination of user privileges and other disciplinary actions consistent with the policies of the Gill-Montague Regional School District. Violations of law may result in criminal prosecution as well as disciplinary action by the Gill-Montague Regional School District.

Acceptable Use

The Superintendent or designee shall develop and implement administrative regulations, procedures, and user agreements, consistent with the purposes and mission of the Gill-Montague Regional School District as well as with law and policy governing copyright.

Monitored Use

Electronic mail transmissions and other use of electronic resources by students and employees shall not be considered confidential and may be monitored at any time by designated staff to ensure appropriate use for instructional and administrative purposes.

Liability

The Gill-Montague Regional School District shall not be liable for users' inappropriate use of electronic resources or violations of copyright restrictions, users' mistakes or negligence, or costs incurred by users. The Gill-Montague Regional School District shall not be responsible for ensuring the accuracy or usability of any information found on external networks.

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY - TECHNOLOGY

(from GMRSD Policy Manual, section IJNDB-R)

Introduction

This document is a joint effort of the greater Franklin County public schools, drafted and approved by the school superintendents and technology coordinators for the purpose of guiding appropriate use of technology in education. (The electronic resources at the public schools in greater Franklin County are provided by and in consonance with their mission to:

Improve education for all students through access to unique resources and partnerships;
Improve learning and teaching through research, teacher training, collaboration and distribution of successful education practices, methods and materials.

In addition, we seek to ensure a healthy and appropriate use of Internet resources by making provisions for:

• Prevention of access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet
• The safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications;
• Prevention of unauthorized access, including .'hacking" and other unlawful activities;
• Prevention of unauthorized disclosure, use and dissemination of personal information regarding minors, and
• The design of measures to restrict minors' access to harmful materials.

Our electronic resources-including, but not limited to, computers and Internet access- allow users access to local, national, and international sources of information and collaboration vital to intellectual inquiry and democracy, and are intended solely for educational purposes. Every user has the responsibility to respect and protect the rights of every other user in our school communities and on the Internet. Account holders are expected to conduct themselves in a responsible, ethical, and legal manner, in accordance with both school and district policies, rules, regulations and guidelines and the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States.

The potential exists, outside the school/district network, for users to access inappropriate material. A user may intentionally or innocently access material inconsistent with our educational purpose. While violations of school/district policy are cause for concern, we maintain the educational advantages of using the web outweigh the disadvantages. It is the burden of parents and guardians to establish standards of use of electronic media consistent with school/district policy and to ensure that users comply with established policy. We and respect each family's decision whether their child should or should not have access to the Internet. Students will be given an account on the network and access to the Internet unless a parent or legal guardian submits a signed Refusal Form.

The following explains our common policies for acceptable use of the schools' and districts' computer networks. Policies specific to individual schools and districts are at the end of this document. Use of our computer networks and the Internet are revocable privileges dependant upon compliance with school/district policy. A user's failure to comply with policy shall result in limited network/Internet access, suspension of access, and/or other

II. General provisions

Network and Internet monitoring

Our schools have software and systems in place that monitor and record all Internet usage. Our security systems are capable of recording each web site visit, chat, newsgroup, e-mail message, and file transfer into and out of our internal networks for each user. Given reasonable cause, we will intermittently monitor Internet traffic and other usage of electronic resources, for instance, by tracking destination URLs of individual users. Users should have no expectation of privacy when browsing the web, sending or receiving e-mail, or using other electronic resources.

Filtering

In accordance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), passed by the U.S. Legislature in January 2001 (Public Law 106-554 ), our schools shall employ filtering software to block access to inappropriate content on all computers with Internet access. Our schools and districts certify that a policy of Internet safety and technology protection measures shall be enforced. Users are restricted from accessing visual depictions of subject matter that is obscene, pornographic, child pornographic or harmful to minors. In compliance with CIPA our schools and districts shall, in furtherance of this policy of Internet safety, monitor the online activities of minors.

Users should be aware that filtering software will not block ALL inappropriate web sites. Users shall report all inappropriate sites not blocked by filters to a technology administrator for appropriate action. Filtering software may be disabled for users 18 and over by a technology administrator for legitimate research purposes.

Our schools and districts can not be held responsible for misuse of material downloaded from any online service, or for inappropriate or sexually explicit material. being obtained through the network.

III. User-specific provisions

A: All users

Students, staff and faculty shall not:

1. Use the network to access and/or transmit material in violation of any U.S. or Commonwealth law, including copyrighted material.
2. Access, download, display, transmit, produce, generate, copy or propagate any material that is obscene or pornographic material; advocates illegal acts; contains ethnic slurs, or racial epithets; or discriminates on the basis of gender, national origin, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, handicap or age.
3. Degrade, damage or disrupt equipment or system performance.
4. Gain unauthorized access to network resources.
5. Permit or authorize any other person to use their name or login password.
6. Use an account of any other person or vandalize another user's data.
7. Waste electronic storage space by saving unnecessary files or programs.
8. Download, install, load or use programs without written permission of the a technology administrator.
9. Use the Internet for personal commercial purposes or for political lobbying.
10. Use inappropriate, offensive, foul or abusive language.
11. Harass or annoy any other party with obscene, libelous, threatening or anonymous messages, objectionable information, images or language.
12. Forward chain letters.
13. Forward e-mail messages of broad interest-including virus alerts and jokes-to the entire school community (see number 5 below).
14. Knowingly make use of pirated software or violate software- licensing agreements.
15. Engage in the practice of "hacking" or knowingly engage in any other illegal activity with using the network.

Students, staff and faculty must:

1. Use the Internet and other electronic resources only for legitimate educational purposes.
2. Respect commonly accepted practices of Internet etiquette including, but not limited to, use of appropriate language.
3. Be aware of potential security risks at all times and take all reasonable steps to minimize risks by, at minimum, logging off the network when a computer is unattended and reporting all unauthorized use of one's account to a technology administrator.
4. Avoid bulk e-mailing
5. Forward all e-mails of broad interest, such as virus alerts, to a technology administrator for appropriate distribution to the entire school community.
6. Treat all computer areas and equipment with the utmost care and respect 

B: Students

Students may access the Internet only with adult supervision, and must notify a teacher or technology administrator immediately if they come across inappropriate content. In addition, students may not use the Internet to give out personal information (such as a home address, telephone number, or picture) about themselves or other students. Student use of electronic resources is restricted to teacher-approved projects and research.

IV. E-mail

School and district resources for electronic communication shall be used for educational purposes. Incidental and occasional personal use of electronic mail may occur when such use does not generate a direct cost for the district, but such messages will be treated no differently from other messages on the network. Prohibited electronic communications include, but are not limited to:

1. Use of electronic communications to send copies of documents in violation of copyright laws.
2. Use of electronic communication systems to send messages access to which are restricted by laws and regulations.
3. Use of electronic communications to intimidate others or to interfere with the ability of others to conduct school/district business.
4. Constructing electronic communications so they appear to be from someone else.
5. Obtaining access to the files or communications of others for the purpose of satisfying idle curiosity, with no substantial school/district business purpose.

V: Software policies

Supported software

Software upon which the District has standardized will be given priority in terms of installation, troubleshooting and training. A list of standardized and supported software, and other software owned by the district, will be updated from time to time and made available for viewing at a location designated by the superintendent, principal, or technology administrator.

Other software

Installation, troubleshooting and training for all other software used by faculty, staff and students will be supported as time permits. Software to be used in the curriculum or in a lab environment must be purchased in "lab packs" of sufficient quantities to account for the greatest number of simultaneous users or as site licenses, and must be owned by the school/district. Single copies of software are considered evaluation copies and will not be supported, installed on multiple computers, or made available from the network to multiple computers.

Unsupported software

Software which makes the computers and network harder to maintain and support and which offers little or no benefit over comparable software will not be supported. Please do not install unsupported software, including downloaded freeware or shareware, on your computer. A current list of software known to be incompatible with the school's/district's network or having issues such as a propensity for spreading viruses will be maintained by technology administrators and forwarded to school principals (or their designees) on a regular basis.

Downloaded software

If you would like specific software downloaded and made available to you and/or your students, please contact a technology administrator. Please do not download software to your computer .

VI. Web page policies

General guidelines for student, teacher & classroom sites

1. Posting

All web pages produced by faculty or staff that reference or depict the school/district are assumed to be school- or district-owned educational resources, created for the sole purpose of education, and shall be posted on a school-maintained web site, with the exception of school-authorized sites whose purpose is to simplify the process by which a page/site is posted. All student web sites/pages must be approved by authorized school personnel for posting prior to being posted.

2. Disclaimers

If your home page is housed on a school/district server, but has links to site/pages which are not housed on a school/district server, you must include the following disclaimer:

      "The Gill-Montague Regional School District is not responsible for any content which is not hosted on our servers."

Any school-related web page produced by staff but not housed on the school web site must be posted to an authorized site and must include the following disclaimer:

      "The contents of this site/page express the views of the author(s) only and do not necessarily express the views of the GMRSD."

The school/district is not responsible for content on school-related web sites not housed on our site or on another authorized site.

3. Student pictures and work

Use of student photos on any web page is to be at the discretion of individual schools and districts. In all cases, however, a signed release form must be on record at the school before a student's photo can be placed on a web page, and only first names will be used with either pictures or school work.

4. Content

Do not advertise, endorse or link to any product or organization whose primary function is not to disseminate educational content (e.g., commercial enterprises or political groups). Certain fundraising information and links may be allowed, such as "shopforschool.com" or "marketday.com" and certain exceptions may be made for commercial entities who have significantly contributed to the school community (e.g., Verizon or Microsoft). These company links are allowed at the discretion of appropriate school administrators; please see school- and district- specific provisions at the end of this document for more information. In all cases, exceptions may be made when links to commercial or political groups are provided for legitimate educational purposes-for instance, links to the sites of political parties for civics courses, or links to commercial entities for media literacy courses.

Proof your content and use a spell checker before posting. As an educational institution with a potentially broad audience, it is incumbent upon us to have grammatically correct content. Viewers often have high expectations and we must maintain a high level of accountability to our community.

5. Copyright issues

Make certain that your use of copyrighted material conforms to the "fair use" test (http://www.benedict.com/basic/fairuse/fairtest.htm) and that all copyrighted material on your site is appropriately credited.

Design guidelines

1. Title  -- Make sure your page has a title. This is what appears in the browser's title bar.
2. Fonts -- Use common fonts (e.g., Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, and Palatino) and always view your page in both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer before posting.
3. Graphics -- When using graphics, make sure that the file extension is either .gif or .jpeg. Try to keep the size of any graphic files to less than 50 KB, as many people are accessing our site from home with slow modems. (You can check the size of a file on a PC by right-clicking and selecting "Properties." On a Mac, select the file and then select "Get Info" from the File menu).
4. Links --  Check all links. Keep in mind that web sites come and go at an alarming rate and frustrated users will stop visiting your page if they consistently- find links which are out of date.
5. Updating -- Update time-sensitive information in a timely fashion. It doesn't look very good to have a banner wishing viewers a Happy New Year in April!
6. Accessibility -- Make sure your sites are Bobby-compliant. Bobby is a free service provided by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) to help web page authors identify and repair significant barriers to access by individuals with disabilities. . You can check your pages at http://www.cast.org/bobby.